Between Two Worlds
by AlwysBCreative
Summary: A young girl wakes up in a moving carriage heading towards a mysterious destination, and upon awakening she notices a young woman in a maids uniform sitting in front of her, she then realizes that she has lost all of her memories. How did she get here? Where was she going? Who was this woman in front of her? Did the answers lie at their next stop?
1. Part 1:Lost Memories

***This is one of my first fan fictions I've ever written and I'm so excited to be sharing it with you! But also slightly nervous... I hope everyone enjoys, I'll do my best to post the second chapter tomorrow! Thank you for reading! ^^**

**\- Edit: Hello, for those of you who are new to this ****fan fiction, or those who just would like to reread this chapter again, I have some things I should bring to your attention, at least for the new comers. So first, as you may have already read, my fan fiction is a crossover of both Black Butler and Touhou with some of my Original Characters mixed in. I assume for those of you who are reading, you already know what both Black Butler and Touhou are, so I won't bore you with their summaries. I do not own characters form either Black Butler or Touhou, I only own my Original characters, and yes, the characters are reusable characters of MINE, the only other writer who is allowed to use them on this site is Bunny1o in her fan fiction. Any one else who would like to use these characters in their story, must ask me first. But, actually, that's not what I wanted to say, what I really wanted to say is some of the Touhou characters I will be using, as you will probably see below, will be a little, how you say, out of character, due to reasons that will be explained in later chapters possibly soon if they are not already out while you are reading this. There will also be some unlikely alliances with some of the characters as well that you would probably never see in the game/anime (mainly game.) Now, this is a FAN FICTION, and I'm sure you all know that those aren't PERFECT, so please, try not to judge this fan fiction to hard. However, for those of you who really can't or won't be able to stand these characters acting too OOC, then I am afraid that you may have to stop reading this Fan Fiction here, I am in no way trying to be rude and I appreciate you considering this fan fan fiction, but I am afraid I will not be changing this fan fiction for something like those reasons, please try to understand, thank you and have a wonderful day! ^^ **

**(WARNING: for those of you who will continue with the fan fiction, there will be another "rant" like this one in one of my later chapters, you don't have to read that one if you don't want to, but it may address some questions you may have later.)**

Chapter 1. Lost Memory.

"M'lady." She heard a faint voice call out, a voice that sounded as if it were nothing but a whisper in the wind on a cool, crisp night. If it was to her, she did not yet know, she would try to wait it out to see if it would call out to her again.

"M'lady!" She heard the voice call out again, this time clearer and harsher like the audible blast of thunder that shakes the room of a small house. She became frightened, so frightened she sat up suddenly in her seat and started to look around frantically. She seemed to be inside a carriage moving rather quickly, making its interior rattle ever so slightly with every bump it hit, and she started to become anxious, had she been kidnapped? She then looked directly in front of her and saw a woman with beautiful, silky, long black hair, light crimson eyes, and a maid's dress sitting in the red velvet-covered seat in front of her, the woman looked concerned as she stared back at her.

"M'lady, are you ok?" Asked the women softly and the girl didn't know what to say, she was so confused, how did she get here, how did she know the woman in front of her, how did the woman know her?

"Um, I'm sorry, but who are you?" The girl asked shyly hoping she wasn't offending the poor woman, but she felt she just had to know.

The woman smiled sweetly back at her and responded,

"My name is Utsuho Reiuji*, I'm your maid." And at the woman's explanation, the girl sat back in her seat a little and glanced out the window. Her maid's name sounded like a Japanese name, but from what she saw swiftly go by outside her window, she didn't think she was in Japan, (of course she never remembered going to Japan, so how would she know?) instead she seemed to be in a bit older city, the first city that came to her mind when she saw this town was, London, England. Was this where she was born, maybe her parents were here! Did she have parents? Of course she did, how else could she have been born, but where were they? Were they royals as well? Was that the reason she was one as well? She looked down at her long, light orange dress she didn't realize she had been wearing, and wondered if she should ask those questions. She was never good talking to strangers, but she must have known this woman, the woman obviously knew her.

"Um, Ms. Reiuji?" The girl began to ask but then the carriage hit a sudden large bump that sent the girl shooting upwards in her seat and almost made her hit her head on the ceiling. "Oh my, we're here already?" asked Utsuho with surprise as the carriage slowly came to a halt, and the door started to open for them.

"Um, where exactly is here?" The girl asked instead as she watched Utsuho get out first and then hold out one, humble hand for her as she sat on one knee.

"The Phantomhive Manor, M'lady, we discussed we were going to see them today, are you sure you're all right?" and now the girl wasn't sure if she wanted to get out, who were the Phantomhives? Why couldn't she remember all these things that her maid was talking about?

"Well, it seems your having some trouble remembering so I'll tell you again, the head of the Phantomhive Manor is a distant cousin of yours and he had requested a meeting to see you today." The girl had a cousin who was a royal, that could explain her royalty to some extent, but what about her parents, maybe she should ask, because now she was really curious, but before she could ask, Utsuho interrupted and said,

"I don't mean to interrupt anything M'lady, but maybe we should head inside, it wouldn't be nice to make them wait for us." And the girl flashed back to reality and kindly agreed with her maid as she took her soft, delicate hand that led her down the couple steep steps of the carriage. Once she stepped off the carriage, the smell of freshly grown flowers and other assorted greenery hit her nose carried by the light breeze blew past her, making her shiver just the slightest. She then looked up and her eyes widened with awe as she stared at the enormous mansion that towered above her and her maid. She quickly followed Utsuho to the front door. Upon knocking gently on the large door; a tall gentleman dressed in a black suit and dress pants that also matched the color of his hair and bright fuchsia eyes greeted them.

"Good morning, I assume you have an appointment with my young master, he is just upstairs getting ready, please make your self comfortable while you wait." The man said with a humble bow and what seemed to be a very genuine smile, but something, the girl thought, was off about him and she really didn't feel comfortable around him. Still she and Utsuho followed him inside the spacious manor and he guided them to what looked like a drawing room with two windows on the left wall that offered the room most of its light. There were also weapons such as axes and swords that hung on the wall in an x-like formation, as well as what looked to be deer heads with large antlers that hung above the large fireplace in the back of the room. The butler offered the girl a chair that sat in front of a small table that seemed to have a game placed on it, it looked almost like chess. There was another chair that stood across from her, where she assumed would be where the master of this house, or her cousin, would be sitting. She could feel her palms start to pool with sweat and her heart start to beat faster as she kept imagining who would end up sitting in that chair, would they be a mean old man, or maybe a stuck up teenager not much older than herself. Then suddenly she heard footsteps coming down from the staircase in the hallway behind her and she started to panic. She heard the footsteps enter the room and come closer and closer until a kid, maybe no more than twelve, appeared in front of her and took his seat in the chair across from her. His very mysterious butler stood behind him staring straight ahead. The boy smiled at the girl and the girl smiled back, she was captivated by how pretty the bright blue color in his one, uncovered eye was, the other eye was concealed with a large eye patch and even if she wanted to know why, she decided it was best not to ask.

"You must be Rin Kimyo, I am very pleased to meet you, my name is Ciel Phantomhive and this is my butler, Sebastian Michaelis." And it dawned on the girl that she even forgot her own name; maybe she needed to see help, what happened to her memory?

"Your maid and I made accommodations for you to stay here with us from now on." Ciel stated, sounding quite confused at the girl's, Rin's, spaced out behavior. When Rin came out of her own little world and back to reality she quickly and awkwardly thanked him for his generosity but asked

" Don't I happen to have my own home, I mean I don't want to be rude or anything but-, She cut herself off when she noticed Ciel and her maid (who stood behind her) make eye contact like they were secretly discussing something only they could hear and understand and then Ciel turned back to Rin with a serious look in his eyes and said,

"We just think it would be better if you stayed here for a little bit." Rin was afraid she had offended him, (she did not like making people angry or disappointed in her) until he smiled again and stated,

"I'll have Sebastian show you to your room, we hope you enjoy your stay at the Phantomhive Manor."


	2. Welcome to the Phantomhive's

Ch. 2. Welcome to the Phantomhive's.

Sebastian led both Utsuho and Rin down the long, faintly lit hallway of the second floor of the manor. Rin stayed closely behind Utsuho as Sebastian was informing her that they would be having a guest arrive at the manor shortly, and that if she would like to join him and Ceil, she was welcomed to. He didn't seem to care that Rin was clearly afraid of him. He finally led them to what would was only assumed to be Rin's room, the room she would most likely occupy for the rest of her life.

"There is no need to worry about getting any new attire, Lady Rin, my master has provided you with all that you should need for a while inside your wardrobe, if there is anything else you need however, please feel free to ask." Sebastian politely told her before opening the door; Rin forced a small kind smile as she replied,

"T…Thank you Mr. Michaelis." And with that he gradually opened the door for both Rin and Utsuho the door leading into a fairly large room that at first breath, smelled faintly of flowers, kind of like the outside. She then walked in further and glanced to her right to see two open, sizable glass doors that led out to a rather large balcony that overlooked an even bigger garden that overflowed with every color and type of flower ever imaginable as well as a large assortment of vibrant green trees and bushes that were void of flowers. After taking a long, deep breath of fresh air, she walked back into her room and was astounded at how large her bed was. It seemed to be big enough to fit at least two people, which she felt unnecessary since she was only one person and quite a small one at that. She looked over at her maid who had walked in a little further as well and now seemed to be dusting off a large, vintage white vanity that sat against the wall in front of her bed. (She was surprised they still had room for that in her room with that bed in there.) There was also a very large, wooden wardrobe that sat against the wall to the right of her bed and she watched as Utsuho slowly made her way over towards it and pulled it open.

"Now let's see m'lady, which dress would you like to wear?" Asked Utsuho as Rin came to stand beside her. She scanned the assortment of dresses with her eyes and couldn't decide which one she wanted to wear. There was so many dresses for one little wardrobe each a different color, some even a blend of two or three colors. In the end, she finally decided to wear a pretty, long, lilac colored dress with really short sleeves and gloves that went up to her elbows. Her shoes were the same color and had about a couple inches of a heel.

* * *

Once Utsuho was done with getting her dress, Rin twirled in her gown with delight. She then felt herself become dizzy so she turned to look into her vanity mirror, and tried her hardest to focus on the image of herself being reflected in it. She saw that Utsuho had also curled her long, auburn hair into large, tightly packed curls. Utsuho had also picked out a shiny, white pearl necklace and matching earrings for her as well. Rin started to twirl again when she noticed an old wooden door to the right of her bed that she had apparently hadn't see before.

"Utsuho, what's in that room?" Rin asked curious and eager for somewhere to explore, ,

"That's where I'll be sleeping m'lady." She said with a smile as she saw the gleam in Rin's eyes as she started to maneuver towards the door. Rin realized, in that moment, that she started to feel somewhat closer to Utsuho. At that moment Utsuho didn't feel like a complete stranger that had just walked in Rin's life, she felt like a best friend, a sister even and Rin could feel a smile make its way upon her lips as she made her way to the front of the door. As she was about to open the door however, there came a loud explosion from down stairs that shook the entire room for a moment forcing Rin to stop dead in her tracks.

"Mr. Michaelis, Mr. Phantomhive, I got to see if everyone's ok!" Rin exclaimed after a moment of silence as she started to make her way out of her bedroom.

"M'lady, it's ok I don't think- Utsuho began but before she could finish, Rin was already halfway down the stairs. Utsuho sighed as she watched her Nobleman make her way clumsily down the stairs and around the corridor until she was out of sight and her footsteps were replaced by the faint ticking of a clock placed somewhere within the manor.

* * *

Rin ran as fast as she could down the many long hallways of the manor looking in each open door she could find to see if she could see any signs of an explosion. She was just about to give up when she finally came to an open room with light puffs of smoke exiting it, from the amount she assumed that what ever had happened was starting to calm down but she poked her head inside anyway. Inside she saw Sebastian and another man she did not recognize leaning over something on top of a large, wooden table that looked to be covered in ash and soot and upon further investigation, some of the other items upon it seemed to be concealed in the same thick black dust as well. She walked slowly inside, almost as if she was trying to sneak up on the two, and then froze again when she saw them both turn to look at her. Sebastian had a displeased look on his face well the other man just stared at her in confusion. The man's hair was standing up in a large, golden poof. He wore gray goggles around his neck, and a now charcoal colored cigarette hung loosely from his lips. She also noticed that he wore a chef's jacket and wondered if he could be the mansion's head chef.

"Miss." Sebastian finally said with an annoyed sigh attached, "You really shouldn't be in here."

"I'm sorry Mister Michaelis, I just wanted to make sure everyone was ok!" Explained Rin innocently.

"Eh, Sebastian, who is this?" interrupted the man, and as Rin listened to his voice, she noticed he didn't sound British, he sounded more American if anything.

"Bard." Sebastian sighed again, "This is Miss Rin Kimyo, she will be staying with us at the manor from now on." Rin blushed slightly as she watched the smile widened on Bard's face; he then extended a firm hand as he said,

"Nice to meet you Miss, please enjoy your stay here!" And Rin's smile widened as well as she walked up to take his hand. Before she could take it however, there came a loud crash that sounded like dishes breaking from another room and they all turned to hear a young woman's shrill voice scream in dismay,

"Sebastian!"

"Excuse me, Miss, I seem to have another errand to attend to." Sebastian responded rather calmly as he briskly exited the room. Rin turned back to Bard and quickly shook his hand with a timid "thanks" before she too exited the room.

* * *

Rin was able to find the next room a little easier this time and when she entered she was careful not to step on the broken shards of glass that littered the floor. There was a bulky, wooden cabinet that seemed to have been knocked over on its face with an assortment of shattered dishes around it. She also saw a young woman in the middle of the room with bright red hair put up in two pigtails that also sported a dark blue maid's uniform. She also wore enormous, circular glasses over her eyes. There ever present glare concealing her normal eyes and making her glasses look more like her real eyes. She seemed to be explaining something to Sebastian as he held a hand to his forehead in frustration. Both Sebastian and the maid looked up from their conversation to see Rin walking closer to them. Sebastian's face remained the same aggravated expression as the maid's face lit up with excited puzzlement and she turned back to Sebastian and asked with a bit of a croaky voice

"Mr. Sebastian, who is this, yes?

"M…My name's Rin Kimyo, I will be staying at this manor from now on." Rin answered for Sebastian because she did not like the look of anger on his face at the moment. She did not know if he was angry at her or at the mess the maid had made, but it was making her uncomfortable so she turned to look at the maid who wore a sweet smile, a smile to which Rin reflected back at her. She then spoke up and said,

"My name is Mey-Rin, yes, please to meet you, M'lady!" And as soon as she finished saying that, they all heard another ear splitting cry for Sebastian as that said person started walking out the door once again. Rin turned back to thank Mey-Rin her for her kind words as she too started to walk out the door as well.

* * *

It would have almost been impossible to guess that Sebastian had ended up outside if she hadn't seen the large, black, dried out part in the garden that she guessed should've otherwise been a lush green outside one of the windows in the manor, it looked to have been scorched by a roaring fire. Rin ran outside to help with whatever she could and stopped when she saw both Sebastian and a petite, strawberry blonde boy who seemed to be mourning over the loss of whatever was once growing in that large patch of blackness. He suddenly ceased his wailing to turn towards Rin who stood as still as she could so Sebastian wouldn't notice she followed him again, but something told her he already knew.

"Sebastian, who's this?" Asked the small boy as his light blue eyes glowed with excitement.

"Finni, this is Miss Rin Kimyo, she shall be staying with us from now on." Sebastian said for the third time without even bothering to turn to look at Rin. Rin was embarrassed for a moment, but then noticed someone, or something next to Sebastian. At at a closer glance, it seemed to be a minute, older gentleman who sported a butler's uniform as well. He looked to be drinking a cup of tea and sitting on a small, green pillow. Rin was perplexed as to why he was so tiny and why he was also wearing a butler uniform. She thought up until now that Sebastian was the only butler in that manor.

"That's Tanaka, Miss Rin!" She heard Finni gleefully introduced, and at the mention of his name, the small man responded with,

"Ho, Ho, Ho!" Just then Rin heard another voice call out to her,

"M'lady, there you are!" and Rin turned to see her maid running towards her. Utsuho finally made it over to her from across the large courtyard and with heavy breaths, and in turn, bowed respectfully as she stated frantically,

"M'lady, I've been looking all over the manor for you, the guest will be arriving any minute now, so we must hurry inside!" and with a slightly forceful tug on the wrist, Utsuho led her nobleman across the courtyard back to the manor. Once they were halfway across the field, Rin turned her head to look back at Finni who was waving frantically back at her with a large, happy grin on his face. She also happened to notice that Sebastian, who was there not even a minute ago, had mysteriously vanished.


	3. A New Oven and a Demon Butler

***Authors Note* Most of the dialogue (Unless it's from my O.C or Utsuho) is from the anime, Black Butler Episode Episode 1! Thanks to all those who have been reading my Fan Fiction, I really appreciate at it! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well! ^^**

Chapter 3: A New Oven and a Demon Butler.

It had only been a couple of minutes since the guest had arrived, and he; Ciel and Rin were sitting in the drawing room Rin had just been introduced to a few hours ago. Ciel had allowed Rin's maid to place a third chair in the middle of the two gentleman so she could join them, but in the end, Rin just felt like she was in the way of the two and kept silent the who time as she watched Ciel and his guest play a rather disturbing game,

"The progress of spinning technology in East India is truly astonishing we're also developing quite a top-notch staff-

"You are bewitched by the eyes of the dead, rotten luck, I lose a turn." Ciel interrupted the man suddenly as he seemed to be paying more attention to his board game than his guest, the man continued non-the less.

"Now is the perfect opportunity, we'd like to expand our company and secure a labor force-

"It's your turn." Ciel announced, interrupting the man once more as he sat back in his chair, a cold glare set in his, shimmering blue eye as he watched the man. Rin then started to wonder why he was being so cold to his guest, maybe this was how he always was with company. Or maybe it was due to the man himself, did he know something about this man she did not? Still, it was quite rude in her opinion to keep interrupting him. The man sat back in his chair as well as he replied,

"Ah, yes, then if you'll excuse." And with that, he extended a hand to spin the die that lie lifeless on in the middle of the board, waiting for the next hand to take it.

"All right, five spaces." The man declared with a hint of enthusiasm as he started to move his piece, once he was finished, he eagerly began his plainly assertive conversation once more.

"So, if I might ask for your support in the form of another 12,000 pounds, I believe it would be a profitable venture for you, my lord. I would like to become a vehicle for the Funtom Company to make an even bigger name for itself in South Asia-

"You lose a leg in the enchanted forest." Ciel read grimly to the man, and the man looked up in confusion as Ceil ushered,

"It's your turn again. I lost a turn, remember?"

"O-Oh, quite." The man stuttered with perplexity as he began to roll the die again,

Right, six-

"No that's three." Ciel interjected once more.

"What, but-

"You lost a leg, remember, from now on, you can only go half the number of spaces. " Ciel explained to the man who sat up with disorientation that Rin assumed was from her little cousin's clear explanation of such a dark concept . Rin was now starting to become rather relieved that she declined in playing this game. After a few minutes of silence, the man laughed with surprising delight before replying,

"This is quite severe board game, isn't there any way to regain my leg?"

"Once you've lost something, you never get t back." Rin heard Ceil reply rather harshly and it started to peak Rin's curiosity again,but she did her best to hold her undesired weakness back, and instead of asking her burning question, she watched Ciel get up and snatch the game piece form the man's hand

"Your body is burnt by the raging flames." Ciel read and then looked up at the man, his blue eyes burning with hatred and spite, a look Rin had not yet seen on her cousin's face, but had a strong feeling that she'd be seeing more of it in the future. She now became quite uncomfortable in the hostile atmosphere that was starting to gradually build within the room and wished her maid were there along with her. If she had remembered correctly, she thought she recalled her maid state that she was going to help Sebastian and the others around the house, and felt it wrong to disturb her for something such as trivial as a feeling of discomfort. Then to her immediate relief, she heard the large door to the room open and looked up to see both her maid and Sebastian standing in the entryway.

"Dinner is served." Sebastian declared with a smile.

" Ah, the dinner in the stoned garden, I have been eagerly awaiting it." She heard the man cheer as he began to get up from his chair.

"Then we'll finish playing later." Ciel replied almost forcefully and Rin was afraid she'd have to sit through another aggressive showdown, as she could feel the guilt take hold of her body for having even the slightest idea of not being able to partake in her cousin's little duel.

"I'm not sure we need to finish it; it's clear that I'll lose." The man admitted quite humbly.

"It's not my style to abandon a game halfway through." Ciel responded cooly as he got up from his chair and started to walk towards the open door, and Rin felt she should do the same, but not before she turned to witness a look of pure annoyance on the man's face.

"Child." She heard him angrily spit out making her flinch a little. She then looked up and watched, with a sudden drop of fear in her stomach, as Ciel turned his head over his shoulder to glare at him, the look of hatred now burned even brighter in his bright blue eyes. The man suddenly changed his tune at Ciel's harsh glare as he replied with a high-pitched laugh,

"I mean, the flexible heart of a child is required of a craftsman, that must be what made the Phantomhives the nation's foremost toymakers, you certainly impress me! " And with that, he also removed himself from his chair. Rin couldn't help but feel a little annoyed at this man, but for a second, she thought it wasn't herself that was annoyed with this man, but someone else maybe within her. She suddenly dismissed the thought as she thought it was to silly, though it was not usually in her nature to feel such aggressive behavior.

* * *

It was a cool, quiet evening outside the manor and Rin couldn't help but shiver every time a small gust of wind blew past her. She, Sebastian, Utsuho and Mey-Rin stood in front of a long table draped in an evenly, long bright white tablecloth. On one side of the table sat Ciel and on the other his guest. Again, Ciel had invited Rin to sit with them but she had to decline in fear that she would only end up being a burden, though she was quite hungry. As she was listening to Sebastian explain the meal he was about to serve, she noticed that the table over looked a beautiful Japanese sand garden, and the platform they stood on was surrounded by brightly lit lanterns at every angle, a couple were even placed atop the table alongside two pots of beautiful purple plants. And despite it being quite dark, she thought she could see Bard Roy, Finni, and Tanaka in the bushes watching them.

"That's the legendary first-rate Phantomhive Hospitality for you!" She heard the man announce and Rin wondered what she had just missed. (Besides the food.)

"We've prepared a wine whose bouquet won't clash with the scent of soy sauce." She heard Sebastian declare as held a hand out towards Mey-Rin who stood in front of a wine cart that held a single silver bottle of wine. She also noticed that Mey-Rin's glasses had a large crack on the right side and wondered if that would end up being a problem soon.

"Mey-Rin!" She heard Sebastian command quite loudly as Mey-Rin looked over at him and stuttered the words,

"Y-yes sir!"

She then observed as Sebastian leaned in closer to Mey-Rin's ear to whisper something, and though she could not hear what, she notice Mey-Rin's face become quite red and she replied,

"Y-Yes sir!" And Rin watched with a hand over her mouth and a knot of fear in her stomach as Mey-Rin clumsily made her way over to the table with the large silver bottle of wine gripped in her hands and she thought she heard the maid reply,

"S-S-Sebastian, you shouldn't make that face in public…" and then witnessed in horror as some of the wine from the bottle trickled onto the bright white tablecloth instead its designated wine glass. The dark red liquid kept spreading, and spreading and Rin was afraid it was going to end up on the guest's lap before it ever reached the glass and as she looked around, she assumed the others had the same feeling as well due to the looks of horror that she assumed matched her own Before she could even blink however, the tablecloth was completely removed from the table and the only thing different about the table now was the look of dark wood instead of bright cloth. She looked over to see that Sebastian, who now stood next to Ciel, had the whole cloth tucked neatly under his arm.

The man, who had been delightfully eating, looked down from his bowel and was surprised to see no tablecloth.

"What happened to the tablecloth?" the man asked in confusion and Ciel just calmly replied with a smirk,

"I saw a speck of dirt on the tablecloth, so I had it removed, please pay no mind. " And she watched Sebastian bow humbly as he said,

"My deepest apologies, sir, please take your time and enjoy your dinner." The man was puzzled for a moment and then he laughed,

"Well, I'm staggered, Lord Phantomhive, what a truly able man he is." And Rin assumed the man was referring to Sebastian.

"He merely did what was proper as my servant." Ciel explained with a chuckle.

"My master is quite right, you see, I am merely one hell of a butler." Sebastian agreed with a smile.

* * *

Once they were back inside the drawing room, Rin listened as she took her seat to the man who kept trying to press his "contract" unto Ciel.

"Before that; we must finish our game." Ciel ordered as he sat down in his chair.

"A-Ah, quite. But I'm afraid I have another appointment to go to…" The man trailed off as he also began to take a seat.

"Children are avid for games, you know that as well as I do" Ceil stated with a wide smile and Rin assumed that was spite for the man's earlier comment. She looked over towards the man who she thought had a hint of anger on his face but he quickly replaced it with a smile as he politely asked,

" In that case, might I ask to borrow your telephone for a minute first?" Ciel nodded in response, and the man turned to leave, and as the man left, Sebastian came in with a large silver cart of tea.

"I've brought tea." Sebastian announced with a smile as the man pushed past him to leave. Sebastian came all the way into the room with the cart, as soon as the man had made his leave, and stood by Ceil who he offered some tea. He also offered Rin a cup as well and she took it with a shy "thank you." As she went to take a small sip, she could hear Sebastian and Ceil discussing something. Ceil was complaining that the aroma of the tea was quite weak and Sebastian told him he had brought the Italian tea "in deference to their guest"

"Italian tea?" Ciel asked curiously and Sebastian explained that coffee was the main drink in Italy and therefore it was difficult to find high quality tea there.

"It's not to your liking, My Lord? Sebastian asked inquisitively.

"No, I don't like it at all." Ciel replied distressingly as he stared deeply into his cup of tea, and Sebastian turned back to the cart as he announced he was going to prepare the pudding.

"Yes, let him enjoy the Phantomhive hospitality to its fullest." Ciel responded and Sebastian bowed humbly. When he went to stand up again, Rin could've sworn she had seen his once somewhat normal looking eyes glow a dark, dusty red and his pupils had turned into small, black slits. She then rubbed her eyes as he turned to leave and figured that she could've just been imagining it, but something deep in her gut told her, she really wasn't.

* * *

A few minutes after Sebastian had left, the drawing room became quite dark and the only source of light was the moonlight that shown through the window, casting long shadows throughout the room. Rin had taken the seat in front of her cousin because something told her the guest would not come back, at least not any time soon. She clasped a piece of Ceil's game in her hand and started to stare at it, a look of sorrow attaching itself to her face. Suddenly she heard a loud, gruff scream that made her jump up in her seat, it sounded exactly like the guest who was just in there a few hours ago.

"Oh no, that poor man needs- Rin cried hastily as she was about to get out of her seat to run down and help him.

"Sit!" Ciel commanded to Rin rather powerfully. Rin obeyed and sat hesitantly back in her seat terrified of both her cousin, and what was happening to that man at that very moment. A couple minutes after, she heard the man scream once more but this time, he sounded as if he were outside the manor this time. She took a small breath of relief that the man was not dead. She then turned to hear her cousin chuckle with sick delight as his face became shrouded in the long shadows she had just seen earlier. He then became dead serious as he mumbled,

"What an ugly scream, he sounds like a strangled pig." And Rin listened in silent fear as her cousin continued,

"He sells the factory without telling me, and then says he wants to "secure a labor force" did he really think he could keep that a secret, stupid trickster." And then Rin looked down at the game board as Ciel moved his piece to the end of the game, the "Happy Ending". He then took that piece and knocked it over on its side as he repeated eerily,

"Once you've lost something, you can never get it back."


	4. Unusual Behavior

**Authors Note* First off, I'm not really quite sure if episode 1 and episode 2 of the Black Butler anime go in chronological order or if it's just random order, so I put mine in chronological order. Second I used some dialogue from the Black butler anime episode 2. Third. I apologize in advance because one of the new characters I introduce goes a little crazy, but I promise you, she gets better! ^^;**

**Thanks again for anyone who has been reading this, you guys are awesome! ;) **

Chapter 4: Unusual Behavior

Rin awoke to the early sun's bright rays penetrating through her delicate, white curtains and was shocked to find that she had actually fallen asleep that night now that she knew there might be a demon roaming the halls of the manor. Not to mention the fact that her cousin wasn't the cute , innocent little boy she had perceived him to be. And as far as she knew, the other servants were the only _normal_ ones that lived in this mansion. As a matter of fact, Rin wasn't even sure if she or her maid were even human. Although Rin was pretty certain she was a human, she was concerned about her maid, what if her maid was also a supernatural being and the sole reason she decided to stick with Rin was because she wanted her soul! She was almost struck by a faint heart attack when she heard the door to her room click open, revealing her mysterious maid. She seemed to have an annoyed look painted on her face as she came in holding a small gray haired rat in one hand and a broom in the other.

" Oh hello M'lady, I was afraid you weren't up, sorry to have to bring this infestation in your room, I just found him while sweeping the hallway and your balcony was the closest to the outdoors as I could get up here." She replied somewhat startled before she began walking over to the large French doors to release the small critter.

"Aww, he's kind of cute." Rin mumbled quietly as she watched Utsuho threw open her curtains as well as her large french doors to release him, with a slight giggle before replying,

"Yes, I suppose he is quite cute, I don't know how he got into the manor however, we must be having an infestation." Rin couldn't keep the question she kept inside her cook for much longer than necessary, and she decided to ask Utsuho the scorching hot question with a slight uneasiness as it began to build itself within her chest at the anticipation of what the answer could be,

"Um, Utsuho?" Rin started warily.

"Yes, M'lady?" Utsuho asked as she turned to look at Rin with a warm smile.

"Um, I know this sounds like a stupid question, but…are you human?" managed to drag out as she watched with towering anxiety as her maids face drop for a minute, only then to be turned back into a smile as she laughed

"Of course I'm a human, M'lady, why do you ask?" her laugh then slowly starting to dissipate.

"Oh, n…nothing, just you know, being weird!" Rin replied with an uncomfortable laugh, and she noticed her maid's face shift to a rather concerned look.

M'lady, is there something wrong, you know you can tell me anything." Utsuho said leaning a little bit closer to Rin and she started to become anxious with the affectionate pressure radiating from her maid, she felt she should tell Utsuho, but at the same time, she didn't want to sound weird, what if Sebastian really wasn't a demon, what if this whole thing was in her head? She decided she would tell Utsuho anyways, but was interrupted when there came a startling crash from outside her bedroom door. She then watched her maid's face turn from sympathy to irritation in an instant as she excused herself from the room. Rin watched as her maid slowly closed the door behind her and she listened to the few minutes of silence that followed. Utsuho then entered back through the door with her hands full of about three more rats.

"These servants, I swear M'lady." She grumbled as she dumped the rats onto the balcony.

"Now what did you want to tell me, M'lady?" Utsuho asked, her look of annoyance turning back into a heartfelt smile.

"Oh, I…It's nothing, I'm fine!" Rin lied as she felt the guilt pour into the pits of her stomach, like week old milk into a perfectly clean and ready glass.

"Are you sure?" Utsuho asked kindly as Rin felt the guilt burn inside her throat and she nodded as honestly as she could. And Utsuho smiled back at her as she responded,

"Okay M'lady, as long as you're okay." And Rin thought she was going to vomit for a minute, she obviously had never lied before, and she hated to do it to poor Utsuho.

"Oh and by the way, Master Ciel said he's having some guests over and wanted you to join them." Utsuho stated as she started to open Rin's wardrobe. Rin thought she really was going to vomit at that moment, she really didn't want to see any more guests, especially with what happened the night before.

"M'lady, are you sure you're okay?" Utsuho asked immediately snapping Rin out of her nightmare, and Rin responded with even more guilt circling through her veins,

"Oh yes, I…I'm fine and I would love to join Ciel and his guests!" Rin responded unsteadily as she watched her maid nod her head with what looked to be skepticism. She continued to finger through Rin's wardrobe when she seemed find something she liked. She then pulled out a flowing, light blue dress with long sleeves and a V-neck collar.

"How about this one, M'lady?" She asked.

* * *

Rin walked slowly and timidly into a large, open room that seemed to be another drawing room. There was red velvet conversation couch in the back of the room with two chairs next to it to match, a small wooden table in front of it, and two large windows in the back of it. There stood a fireplace in between the two windows that provided the room with most of its glorious light, as well as an array of swords that hung above it. There was also a large, chandelier-like fixture that hung above them and even more weaponry that hung upon the pale yellow walls. Rin watched as all the guests' eyes turned from whatever they were doing to her immediately, making her feel particularly uneasy and out of place. On the couch in the middle of the room, she noticed a man with black hair and what looked to be a blue, kimono like robe with red stitching that went from his neck to his right shoulder. A light blue scarf tied around his waist. There was also a women who sat with him in a similar form of attire only hers was a lot shorter and more feminine looking, she too had black hair decorated with a bright pink flower accompanied by a drooping gold tassel. There was also a women dressed in all red from her hair to her shoes, this woman causing Rin anxiety as her deep brown eyes seemed to scan Rin's form as if in search of something Rin did not know. Ciel sat in the chair across from the lady in red with Sebastian standing in the middle. She also thought she saw someone standing in the back of the room, but she was too nervous to do a double take.

"Hey Ciel, who is this?" Asked the lady in Red curiously while the two on the couch continued to stare at her in perplexity.

"This is Rin Kimyo, she is a distant cousin of mine, and she shall be staying with me for the time being." Ciel introduced without even turning to acknowledge Rin. After a moment of silence Ciel introduced his guests to Rin.

"Rin, this is Lau and Ran-Mau." Ciel stated as he gestured towards the two people on the couch. The man in turn smiled kindly at Rin as the woman just nodded expressionless. Rin took special notice to the man's eyes as they seemed to not feel the need to open, and Rin wondered curiously why this was, but she felt severe rudeness in asking so she kept in turn quiet as always.

"And this, is Angelina Durless, also known as Madame Red." Ciel finished as Rin looked towards the woman who wore all red as she sat there still looking quite confused despite introduction.

"Please to meet you, M'lady." Lau greeted warmly once introductions were complete, and Rin could feel herself begin to relax a bit until Madame Red unexpectedly yelled,

"That's all fine and dandy, but Ciel, why didn't you tell me that you had another cousin, I am your dear aunt after all!" And Rin froze at the word "aunt", Could this possibly be her mother? She wanted to believe that maybe it could be, but she would think that her own mother would remember her own daughter; of course, she didn't remember her own mother. Still, Rin just couldn't make the fact that Madame Red could be her mother feel right to her so she dismissed that thought for the time being.

"I didn't tell you, Madame Red, because I thought there was no reason for you to know." Ciell replied with a slight smirk.

"Of course there was a reason to tell me, there were tons of reasons to tell me, first of all, I am your aunt, and second- but before Madame Red could continue her argument, a loud clap echoed throughout the room that looked to have come from Lau who seemed to had to find it necessary to remove himself from the sofa he was once sitting ulan, and once he seemed to be sure everyone was listening he spoke up,

"I hate to interrupt this conversation, but perhaps we should get back to the matter at hand."

"Of course." Ciel agreed as he took another sip of tea.

"So, you believe the drug trafficker was one of the guests you invited today, M'Lord?" Lau asked as he remained standing.

"Perhaps." Ciel replied sitting up straighter in his chair. Rin was a little confused with the conversation at hand, mostly due to the fact that she had just walked in on it, but she wanted to listen so that she wouldn't be a bother.

"You can just leave the extermination business to Lau, A rat knows best where the rat's nest is, doesn't he? " Madame Red assured, with no traces of anger from their last conversation. And Rin watched as Lau slowly started to make his way over to the back of Ceil's chair.

"I'm a tame Guinea Pig, actually." Lau joked as he started to bend over and place his hand atop Ceil's small head before continuing,

" If the Earl orders me to, I won't do anything uncalled for." And then before Rin could blink, Madame Red snatched Ciel from his chair protectively and commanded angrily,

"Hey, keep your paws of my darling nephew!

"You wound me, I wouldn't paw at him _here_." Lau chuckled creepily as Madame Red dropped Ciel to scream at him, and Rin then watched as Ceil started to calmly make his way from the room. Before she too decided to leave the room as well, the noise around her began to fade from her hearing till it was nothing more than muffled screaming front eh two still burning hot in their argument. It seemed as if an unknown prescence had began slowly muting the volume. She then heard someone's voice replied steadily,

"_Follow Him."_

Rin looked around but saw nobody, and nobody seemed to notice her, Madame Red and Lau were still fighting over the boy who was no longer there, and Sebastian was about to leave the room.

"_Can't you hear me, I said follow him!" _The voice ordered fiercely, it sounded feminine, and it wasn't an older female, more of a younger female, a girl about her age maybe?

"Why, who are you?" Rin asked in a whisper hoping nobody could hear her.

"_Listen, that cousin of yours is in trouble and if you don't hurry up and follow him, things could become bad, so get your butt up and GO!" _The voice explained hastily as it started to fade slowly out, bringing the noise of the room back to her ears. After a moment of wise pondering, she thought it may be wise to listen to the voice, and began to get up out of her chair and walk through the large double doors, hoping that nobody was watching her suspiciously. The only person in the room, who had watched her leave however, was the one butler in the back that she had been too nervous to look back at.

* * *

"_Ugh, go in already!" _Impatiently insisted the voice that Rin couldn't seem to get rid of. Rin was hiding against a wall at the tip of the mouth of one of the mansion's many hallways and watched quietly and carefully as her cousin briskly entered the two large, wooden doors to the right of the hallway's opening. Rin didn't know what she was doing or how this voice in her head did, but she decided to be brave and trust whatever or whoever was inside her head. She took a deep breath and proceeded remove herself from her hiding place and began to make her way towards the tow large doors she had seen her cousin enter a few seconds ago. Upon reaching them, she then opened the two somewhat heavy doors revealing the chaotic scene inside. Inside she saw a large, unmoved desk, a turned over chair and sheets of paper that littered the floor. She also saw a blonde male in a crisp white jacket with her cousin slung over his shoulder. He stood atop the unturned desk and seemed to be trying to climb out the large, open window behind it.

"Hey!" Shouted Rin with as much courage as she could muster. She watched the man turn around to look at her with alarm. He had tiny Blue eyes and a somewhat large scar that ran between them. He also had a slight goatee on his chin with two silver piercings on the top of his eyebrow and two on the bottom as well as three on his ear.

"Hm, who are you?" Asked the man gruffly and Rin felt her knees start to shake at his threatening voice, but she swallowed her fear to answer him,

"My name is Rin, and that is my cousin you are trying to kidnap, and I have come here to stop you and save him!"

"_Alright then, Sailor Moon, now it's my turn!" _The voice declared as Rin felt her fists start to clench with the anger that she herself was not feeling.

"Huh, your cousin, I'm sorry sweetie but I don't see the family resemblance at all, in fact, I think your just a little-but before he could finish his insult, Rin felt herself run towards him, her arm instantly swinging on its own as it socked him hard in the stomach, making him drop from the desk to the ground in heavy breaths, her cousin falling to the floor a few inches away from him.

"Wh…What are you?" The man asked breathlessly before coughing up some blood onto the carpet. And Rin stood solid in silence and fear for a minute when the voice started to joke,

"_Aww, I thought you were going to fly right out the window you little prick!" _There was a slight pause and then she continued almost cautiously.

"_Alright Rin, now don't feel too creeped out by me saying this, but I'm going to need to take over your body for a bit." _

"_What?" _Rin asked with building anxiety, but it quickly began to collapse as the girl began to surface.

* * *

"Ah, now that's more like it, sorry about that Rin, but I have some energy I want to get out, specifically on this guy's disgusting face." She told herself, or at least that what it looked like, as she started to feel Rin's body come to life for her, like a dead battery at the end of charger. It felt so good to be able to have a body again, even if wasn't hers. She then started to wonder, did she even have her own body? How did she get into this one of all bodies? What even happened to her memory? As she was trying desperately to put together any fragments of her memory she had, she saw out of the corner of her eye the man starting to pull himself off the ground, shuddering heavily as he did so. She then watched quietly as the man proceeded to pick up the still unconscious Ciel and make his way carefully towards the desk that led to the window, as if he thought she wasn't paying attention to him, how stupid he was for making such a foolish mistake!

"Ha, where do you think you're going?" She asked grisly and she watched with delight as the man froze dead in his escape and turned slowly, panic masking his ugly face.

"I didn't say I was done with you did I, now drop the brat and finish this like a man!" She demanded with a frightening smile, she loved seeing the fear on his face as he watched her approach him. She really disliked men, she didn't know why exactly, all she knew was that they just made her sick as well as the four letter word known as "love", she needed neither one and preferred for it to stay that way.

"Y…you, monster, stay away from me!" The man pleaded with fear mixed with some disgust. The girl then grabbed him by his collar and forced him to look at her.

"Now that's not very nice to say to a _lady_, is it?" She asked with sarcasm at the word "lady"

"You get your hands off me, I'll have you know that I am _royalty_!" the man demanded courageously, and the girl 's smile then quickly fell to an expressionless frown as she punched him smack in the face.

"Oh my, I love how you think I care about that crap, you know, it's men like you that I especially hate, thinking that all that matters is how much money they have, and how important they are to the society, but news flash for you buddy, nobody gives a single crap!" the girl scoffed, her smile returning as she pulled him closer to her face and watched the blood trickle from his lip.

"Now how about I give another scar to match that one between your eyes." The girl suggested as she was going to go in for another blow, but not before she heard Ceil command,

"Rin-Chan, stop that!" And suddenly, the girl lost all control of the body as she felt a sharp pain go through her head. She then watched as the blood started to drip down from her head to the middle of her face. Her vision then began to go blurry as she fell to the floor with a _thud!_ And the last thing she saw before she passed out was the look of horror on Ceil's face and the look of triumph on her opponent's bruised and battered face, as if he had thought he had actually won.


	5. An Entity Named Shizu

***Author's Note: I don't know for certain, but this may be the last chapter for a little bit, I need to get working on the sixth chapter, possibly tonight or ****tomorrow, who knows, but I'll do my best to finish it quickly! Also I want to thank my friend bunny10 for using my new character Shizu Kanjiru in her fan fiction Lovely Thorn, thanks so much my friend! ^^ **

**Also just a warning, I'm a total dork when it comes to writing fluffy love scenes just so we're all clear, you have been warned! ^^;**

**And I had to short the chapter name because I couldn't fit it all in the title box thingy where you put the title for the chapter... (I hope you know what I'm talking about.) **

Chapter 5: An Entity Named Shizu and a Clumsy Butler Named Grell.

Rin awoke with a start, her heart almost leaping from her chest, the sun pouring into her room through her window. She wasn't exactly sure what had happened, all she knew was that she was supposed to be dead! She could feel a tight bondage around her forehead and raised her hand to slightly stroke the rough, gauzy texture that enveloped her head. She then looked around to see that she was inside her bedroom lying in her own bed; the sheets sprawled across her lap in a large heap from her sudden start. She also seemed to be in her long, white nightgown that she always wore for sleep. She was about to get out of her bed when she heard the door click open and watched as her maid slowly made her way in, her head hung down with what looked to her to be depression. Rin then observed cautiously as her head slowly rose to look at her, and when the maid's eyes met Rin's, she squealed happily as she placed her hands over her mouth, tears rolling down her cheeks in small streams. Then without hesitation, she darted over to Rin's side and embraced her in a long, warm hug, her tears hitting Rin's neck as they fell, and the smell of cleaning material and baking ingredients could be easily smelled on her body. After the long, emotional hug, Utsuho finally released her noble and looked up to face her, wiping tears from her eyes as she did so.

"M'lady, I…I thought you were dead." Utsuho choked through another joyful sob as Rin patted her lightly on the shoulder. She then tried to wrap her head around everything that was happening, why wasn't she dead, where did that voice go, did that voice die in her place, who was that voice? After a moment of awkward silence Rin finally cheered,

"Well, I guess I'm ok!" and she smiled a warm smile as she watched Utsuho follow in pursuit, proceeding to wipe her red, puffy eyes. After another couple of minutes, Utsuho declared,

"Alright M'lady, let's see how that injury of yours is doing then." And with that, she started to bring her hands closer to Rin's wrapped forehead. "Strange, I don't see any signs of blood on the cloth, that's good I assume!'" She mused aloud with slight concern resonating within her voice as she proceeded to unwrap the bandages. Rin felt the tickle of the bindings as they hit her shoulders and she shuddered at their light touch. After the tight bondage she had been feeling on her head had been loosened completely, Rin watched as her maid slowly started to move back against her open bedroom windows, a look of disbelief displayed itself on her face.

"Y…you're wound, th…there's nothing there!" Utsuho stuttered in panic as she held the white, spotless wrapping, "I…I thought there would at least be some bleeding but there's nothing, nothing at all!" and Rin took her hand and slowly started to caress the soft delicate skin that covered her forehead, and thought it odd as well that there was nothing there.

"How big was the wound when you found me?" Rin asked her maid as she started to feel delayed panic as well. Her maid then turned away bashfully and Rin thought she could see a hint of redness in her cheeks,

"It actually wasn't me who retrieved you, M'lady, it was actually- She interrupted herself with a slight cough, "That butler." the last part coming out with a hiss.

"Oh, you mean Sebastian?" Rin asked a little too excitedly, then shivered at the thought of a demon touching her body.

"No, not him." Utsuho replied with a smile, but Rin could tell she was irritated for some reason.

"Um, Tanaka?" Rin guessed with a doubtful smile, she felt as if this was turning into an impossible guessing game. The last time she saw Tanaka, he was but a strange little man, although she thought it could be possible for him to rescue her.

"No, not him either." Utsuho responded through tightly clenched teeth as Rin became disheartened at her second wrong answer. If it wasn't Tanaka or Sebastian, who could be, was there another butler in the house? As if to answer her question, they heard a unruly crash and what sounded like a cart rolling heavily down the hallway outside her room, they also heard what sounded like a man's voice wail loudly as it seemed to move with the disrupting noise.

"I'm terribly sorry M'lady, but I believe I have to fix this!" Utsuho stated through her still gritted teeth, as she turned to exit briskly through Rin's door, slaming it ever so vaguely. Rin winced at the surprising noise as she started to get up again. Before she could even place one foot on the floor, she heard the room start to fade out again and quickly decided to stay where she was while it went completely quiet. Immediately after all was silent, the mysterious girl started to talk again.

"Where do you think you're going, you're not even dressed, you might want to wait until your maid comes back, and that might take a while so I suggest you ask any questions you have for me now, because I actually have a few for you as well!"

"Oh ok." Rin nodded, agreeing with the girl in her head that now would be a good time to ask her all her bottle up questions, she asked first, excitement proceeding to tower itself within her stomach "First question, what's your name?"

"Uh, Shizu, Shizu Kanjiru." She answered, but she didn't sound to sure about her answer.

"Um, next question, a…are you a demon?" Rin continued with uncertainty about her next question. After a moment of brief silence, Shizu responded,her tone revealing to Rin that she was clearly insulted,

"Um that's kind of an insulting thing to ask, why the heck would I want to be one those soul sucking freaks?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult you, are you my conscience?" Rin guessed wildly, the voice in her mind then laughed, clearly amused, as she replied,

"Yeah, that's a good one, princess." and in turn, Rin felt her cheeks go hot in embarrassment.

" May I ask what you really are then?" Rin asked hesitantly as not to embarrass herself again.

"Human, I'm a human!" Shizu answered quite confidently although Rin wasn't quite sure about her answer, but she wasn't quite sure why that was.

"Shizu, how did you know that Ciel was in danger?" Rin questioned almost instantly after Shizu had finished answering her last question.

"I…I don't know, female intuition, it's a common thing amongst all women!" Shizu answered quite defensively and Rin was afraid she had upset her. She decided to ask her another one of her questions anyways,

"Shizu, did you happen to lose your memory?" Rin inquired, and then waited through a moment of silence before Shizu replied once more,

"Yeah, and I assume you have too, I can see all of your thoughts and memories up here, I am able to hear, smell, taste, see, and touch whatever you do, and I assume you can do the same when I am in control." Shizu explained as Rin nodded her head slowly, a little creeped out.

"Listen, I…I am sorry about taking over your body without your permission, it's just that I guess I got a little too carried away with the fight, you probably already saw that though." She admitted diffidently, and stayed silent for another minute.

"It's ok Shizu, I forgive you." Rin said with a warm smile despite the fact that Shizu wasn't able to witness it, but she still didn't hear anything from her.

"Now I have something to ask you." Shizu finally spoke up as Rin started to sit up in attention.

"Sure!" Rin responded enthusiastically.

"When Ciel called you "Rin-Chan" why did you suddenly freeze?" Shizu questioned as Rin thought it over for a minute.

"Well, thought it was because we got shot." Rin answered innocently, and she thought she heard Shizu sigh in annoyance as a form of reply.

"No, it was because of that name, why is that?" Shizu asked sounding quite sure of herself, and Rin became afraid she wouldn't be able to answer due to her memory loss so she went with the first answer that came to her mind.

"Well, I guess I thought I heard someone else call me that name before, but I don't remember who."

"Well that's kind of obvious, I swear it's like mashed potatoes up here." Shizu stated as she let out another long, irritated sigh, and Rin started to feel another twinge of embarrassment surge through her.

"Hey, Shizu, sorry if I'm being too nosy, but why do you hate men so much, they don't seem to bad to me?" Rin asked timidly as she waited anxiously for the girl in her head to respond.

"Hmm, it doesn't matter, since you're my host I guess I'll share with you my reasoning, though it is pretty obvious, all men are pigs!" She answered with a venomous hiss at the end and Rin wondered why she felt such cynicism towards males.

"Remember I can hear _anything_ you think, and to answer your question, it's because they're just too gross and full of themselves, that's it!" She snapped releasing Rin from another daydream, and almost causing her her almost jump right out of her bed.

"So you've never been in love?" Rin asked afraid she was exceeding the limit of personal questions she could ask.

"Well how would I know, I lost most of my memory, but for my sake I hope not!" She answered angrily and Rin decided to stop bugging her with questions. A few minutes into their silence, Rin heard the door click open and in slowly walked her maid, a look of curiosity played on her face as she asked with a slight chuckle,

M'lady, who are talking to?" And Rin, in turn, felt heat rise to her cheeks as she realized she had been talking to Shizu out loud. She then answered her maid's sudden question as honestly as she could,

"M…my self!" and she felt an overexcited laugh escape her as the heat continued to linger within her cheeks.

"Well, that wasn't a complete lie." Shizu assured blankly as Rin continued to look at her maid who now looked quite confused, but didn't seem to ask any more questions about her Lady's strange activities.

"Well, I assume you're going to want to get up and join everyone, so how about we pick out a gown!" Utsuho suggested with uncomfortable excitement in her voice as she made her way over towards Rin's wardrobe.

* * *

Rin walked gently down the stairs, the end of her emerald green dress flowing limply behind her. Her hair was done in loose curls that fell lightly to her shoulders, their feel similar to that of the loose gauze that fell to her shoulders when her maid had removed her bandages. She made her way eagerly to the dining room where Utsuho informed her that everyone would be. When she entered, she saw her cousin sitting safely at the large table in the middle of the room that was concealed with a bright white tablecloth, a large array of food placed in front of him. There was large window next to him and a wooden desk with potted plant placed on it behind him. Next to him stood his ever-present butler, and the four usual servants in the back of him. There was another servant that stood behind Ciel; he wore normal butler attire with large, circular glasses that concealed his eyes with a glare. A sizable, bright red ribbon tied his long, dark brown hair back. When they all heard Rin's light footsteps walk into the room, they all turned to look at her. Astonishment quickly presented itself on their faces as if they were staring at Rin's ghost and not Rin herself. The three familiar servants ran over towards Rin and almost tackled her to the ground in a bombarded embrace, their loud sobs muffled in her dress, even Bard's eyes filled with tears as she assumed he wasn't the type to show such emotion.

"Miss Rin, we're so glad you are alive!" Wailed Mey-Rin as she lifted her head up to look up at Rin, the other two servants following her lead and nodding, their faces red and puffy with tears that reminded her of how Utsuho had looked when she first saw Rin's living form. Rin hugged back and smiled, feeling the warmth of love and happiness run through her veins, she absolutely loved this feeling. When the servants finally decided to pry themselves from her delicate form, she started to make her way towards the stranger that she never remembered meeting. She felt her heart beat increasing its speed slightly, its beats vibrating through her chest. She also thought she could feel a faint pain in her right arm, but she assumed it was because she just slept on it weirdly, and began to dismiss it entirely. When she was in front of the mysterious stranger, he turned to look at her, his face turning a brilliant red, and she imagined it was probably mirroring her face as she too felt the heat of the moment. At a closer look, she noticed eyes were a dazzling, beautiful yellow-green color, and she was careful not to stare too long into them.

"Um…I wanted to thank you for um rescuing me after I was… shot." Rin stuttered as she felt the heat linger within her cheeks, and the pain in her arm started to become stronger.

"Oh, y…you're welcome, Miss Rin" He replied timidly and Rin felt her heart embark on a faster beat in response to him mentioning her name. She became so entranced in this feeling, that she couldn't detect the pain in her arm as it continued to grow more and more intense the longer she stood in the man's presence. The only one who could feel this pain was Shizu and she in turn tried to get Rin to notice it too.

"Yo, Rin?" Shizu called out to her host, but when she didn't respond, she tried again.

"Rin, Rin-Chan, Princess!" but still no response. She then noticed the man start to lift his hand in what looked to be a gentle manner,his eyes fixated on her forehead, and it looked as if he was going to touch it. She felt the pain start to increase even more to the point where she thought it was screaming, and she began to think that it was a wonder Rin couldn't feel it. Finally Shizu decided to take matters into her own hands as she took control of her hosts body for a quick second. In doing so, she threw Rin to the ground before the man had a chance to touch her. Rin then fell backwards right on her butt with a_ thud_, and the only pain she could feel now was the pain from the landing, and as she looked around her, she saw everyone's look of puzzlement at her sudden action.

"Wow, did you all of a sudden decide to go deaf, what the heck was that pain all about?" She heard Shizu interrogate in irritated sarcasm as Rin tried to figure out was going on.

"M'lady, are you okay?" Asked Utsuho who was already at Rin's side with both of her hands on her shoulders to keep her steady. Rin smiled and nodded before turning her head back to look up at the stranger. The man was still red in the face, but this time he looked frightened at Rin's figure sitting painfully on her bottom. Rin smiled sweetly to reassure him she was okay and asked,

"I'm sorry about that, but I just realized that I never got your name, would you mind telling me?"

"His name is Grell Sutcliff, The Barnett butler, also known as Madame Red's butler." Ciel interrupted before the man could respond with anything. The man nodded slowly in confirmation at Ciel's statement.

"I don't like him." Shizu stated bluntly as Rin continued to stare absent-mindedly at the him.

"Rin!" Ciell called out, breaking Rin from her trance and forcing her to snap her head around to look at her cousin.

"Y…yes sir?" Rin asked unsteadily as she felt herself go hot in the cheeks once more.

"I'll be heading into London this afternoon, and I want you to come with me since I figured you haven't been out of the manor in a while." Ciel responded as he took a sip of his tea. Rin's brown eyes lit up with excitement. She imagined exploring the streets of London, seeing all the people and shops that made up the large city.

"Alright!" Rin agreed with enthusiasm as she started to get up from the floor, her maid helping her every step of the way.


	6. Everything Must Be Cute!

***Authors Note* Sorry for the long wait everyone, but here it is, Chapter 6! It's a bit longer than some of my other chapters, but it's probably because I added my own story at the beginning. Anyways, I got most of the quotes from the anime, and sorry if I didn't spell or say something correctly, I used the English Dub for this one so it was kind of hard to understand some of the things they said... ^^; **

**Thanks for viewing and I hope to get Chapter 7 out soon! -^^-**

Chapter 6: Everything Must Be Cute!

She emerged from the small, cramped carriage and out into the spacious, but bustling city of London. The air around her was warm with a vague breeze that cooled the air for a moment before it faded out. She proceeded to step down the last narrow step of the carriage, followed by her cousin and his butler. Rin could feel the excitement build within her as she watched all the people make there way along the dirty, worn down streets, some even turning to glance at her, a look of disproval she thought she saw mask their face, a look she thought she's seen somewhere else, but the memory of it seemed to have disappeared along with the rest of them. She then felt someone tap her lightly on her shoulder and jumped with sudden surfacing fear. She then turned to see that it was only her maid that had touched her, and felt the sudden wave of fear drain from her body, like swirling water in a sink. She looked at Rin with a look of both fear and concern.

"M'lady, I'm so sorry, are you ok?" Utsuho asked in a panic as Rin began to regain her breath.

"Oh, yeah, sorry Utsuho, you just scared me!" Rin explained with an uncomfortable laugh. Utsuho started to chuckle a bit before replying,

"Yeah, I can see that, are you sure you're ok?" And Rin nodded with a large smile. The sound of yelling abruptly distracted the two girls, and they started to make their way over to its source.

"Get your paper here, all they latest news!" The voice of a young male shouted, "A Prostitute mysteriously murdered!" Both Rin and Utsuho finally made their way through the busy crowd and in front of the young male. The male still continued to shout his message as he shoved one of the papers held in his arms into Rin's face. Rin gratefully took the paper and started to read the cover,

_**Murder of Mysterious Prostitute **_it read, and Rin started to become deeply confused.

"What does it say, M'lady?" Utsuho inquired curiously as she poked her head over Rin's shoulder.

"Utsuho?" Rin started to inquire with the paper still held tightly in her hands.

"Yes, M'lady?" Utsuho asked with her head still slightly atop Rin's shoulder.

"What's a prostitute?" Rin asked innocently as she heard her maid pause for a minute. Her maid then suddenly took the paper from Rin's grip and answered nervously.

"Well M'lady, that's a great question, you see, um I think I saw your cousin going this way." She diverted as she took Rin's arm forcefully and led her into one of the massive, grey buildings.

* * *

The interior of the building was much larger and brighter than she had expected it to be. There were shop windows that lined almost every wall of the place, displaying their items in a very colorful and pleasing way. Rin could hardly keep herself from running off into the crowd of people that filled the open area and added to Rin's unbearable excitement. Rin watched as some of the people were browsing the sizeable assortment of stores the large building had to offer, other people were conversing with each other, their conversation blending with the rest of the crowd's voices. The ladies decided to blend with the crowd and browse some of the stores as well. They walked from store window to store window, Rin looking for anything that caught her eye, and Utsuho looking to see if she could spot Rin's cousin and his butler, Rin was the first to reach her goal. As she was aimlessly browsing, Rin was caught by the appearance of a medium sized, tan rabbit with a bulky black top hat that was placed neatly between its two large, upright ears. Its black, button eyes stared back at her through the glass window it was trapped behind. Rin ran eagerly towards the window, pressing her hands against the cold glass.

"Look Utsuho, it's a bunny!" Rin yelled childishly as her warm breath started to make foggy imprints on the once clear glass.

"I see M'lady, it's quite cute." Utsuho said humoring her Noble, she did not quite see the appeal of rabbits and small creatures.

"Can I buy it, please Utsuho?" Rin begged fervently as Utsuho sighed in return to her Noble's immature behavior. Rin ceased her begging once she figured she was acting a bit childish, and instead decided to look closer at the rabbit she was eyeing. She noticed a small, brown tag to its left and read its words.

"Funtom." She read silently to herself.

"The Funtom Company, the maker of toys and confections for over the last three years, run by the young master himself." She heard a sudden voice state behind her. She quickly spun herself around to see that it was Sebastian's voice she had heard, he now stood behind her, dressed in all black, and was staring directly at the rabbit she had once been looking at. He then looked down at her and his face seemed to soften a bit at the look of horror and surprise that now placed itself on Rin's face.

"I'm sorry M'lady, did I scare you?" He questioned in a genuinely concerned tone, the answer to his question seeming quite obvious.

"Oh no, I just almost just had a heart attack and died, _because I wanted to!_" Rin heard Shizu yell sarcastically from within her head. She then watched as Sebastian's small smile turned into an offended frown, as if he had heard what Shizu had just stated.

"_Oh no, did he hear you?"_ Rin asked Shizu nervously from inside her mind.

_"Maybe."_ Shizu said as if she were thinking something over. Then her voice turned into a slight whisper as she continued to scream,

_"Hey, hey loser, if you can hear me, go back to hell!"_ And Rin watched Sebastian in anticipation as his frown turned into a warm smile. He then took his hand and placed it atop Rin's head. Rin in response coward slightly, her cheeks burning heavily, and she thought she could smell the faint fragrance of cinnamon radiating from his clothes.

_"Eww gross, get your hands off my host, you little piece of crap!"_ Rin heard Shizu bellow at Sebastian.

"I am truly sorry for the scare, M'lady, I hope you can forgive me." He apologized then quickly took his hand off Rin's head and walked over to join Ciel who was now standing in the middle of the aisle way, waiting impatiently for all three of them.

"Can we hurry up, I'm afraid if we don't get back to the manor in time, Grell and the other three servants are going to destroy it." Ciel hurriedly called out as Rin and her maid followed Ciel and his butler to the carriage.

* * *

It wasn't a terribly lengthy carriage ride home, but it certainly was pretty long, even for Rin who tried distracting herself by staring outside the carriage window watching as the scenery passed her gradually by. When she became bored of that, she let her mind wander to wherever it wanted to go. Rin sat up in surprise as she felt the carriage's wheels began to cease their turning from beneath her, finally they arrived back at the manor. Rin was excited to be home, but also quite disheartened that her London adventure had to end. When the carriage came to a complete stop, Rin watched as the door opened slowly for her, Ciel and Utsuho, revealing the shadow of butler standing on the other side, an ironically bright smile masked his face.

"M'Lord." He stated politely as he knelt down on one knee, extending a hand for Ciel. Ciel walked indifferently down the stairs of the carriage, taking the gloved hand of Sebastian. When Ciel was out of the carriage, Sebastian led him to manor. Rin then let Utsuho walk in front of her, and repeating the almost exact same steps as Sebastian, she helped Rin off the carriage. leading her towards the manor in pursuit of Sebastian and his master. As she proceeded to the front door, Rin noticed her cousin stood frozen at the open entryway; she had no idea why however, until she looked inside herself.

Inside, the once somewhat normal looking manor, had been turned into what looked like a thirteen year old maiden's birthday party. There were pink, purple, and light orange streamers that hung on almost every rafter and railing, glitter that covered the walls and floor, and large stuffed animals that sat on every seat available to them, Rin also thought she smelled the sweet scent of candy.

"M…My mansion, what happened here?" Ciel gasped in horror at the manors new interior. Suddenly, the three main servants, dressed in ridiculous clothing, came bursting through one of the manor's doors and ran towards the staggered group screaming Sebastian's name. Then, Bard Roy took Sebastian's collar in his fists forcefully, while the other two knelt at his legs, crying.

"What is going on here, and why on earth are you all dressed like _lunatics? _" Sebastian asked angrily.

"She's crazy!" Was the only thing Bard Roy responded with while pointing towards the door they had just come out of, and the other two servants continued to sob into Sebastian's pants.

"Who is crazy?" Ceil asked meticulously, and as if to answer Ceil's question, they heard a strange, loud, gagging noise coming from the slightly open door to the left, it sounded as if someone was being strangled to death. They took a peek inside the slightly cracked open door, and noticed the butler, Grell, was hung to the ceiling by his neck with a rope, as if he were too supposed to be a decoration for this new manor makeover. Ciel and the rest of the group ran into the room, and Ciel seeing Grell hung to the ceiling asked in irritation,

"What are you doing now?"

"I believe I'm in the process of dying, Master Ciel." Grell replied breathlessly as he continued to hang, he wore a big orange bow on both his head and his neck.

"Heh." Rin thought she head Shizu laugh in response to Grell's answer.

"Get him down Sebastian." Ciel ordered as Sebastian started to make his way over to the hanging man, replying to Ceil's demand with,

"Yes Master."

Just then, a figure lunged forward from its hiding place and bombarded Ceil with a hug, yelling happily in a high pitched squeal voice,

"Ciel!"

"Ciel, you're back I missed you so much!" Cried the mysterious girl happily as she started to squeeze Ceil tighter and tighter.

"Elizabeth, what a surprise!" Ceil cried out in just that, surprise. At closer glance, the girl was small, maybe about the age of thirteen, the same age as her cousin, and had blond, outrageously curly pigtails, and an orange and yellow dress with an orange headband to match. She seemed quite energetic, and really seemed to have a love for Ciel.

"Aww Ciel, how many times do I have to tell you, call me Lizzie!" The girl demanded cheerfully as she embraced Ciel in another deathly hug. In the middle of her hug, she looked up at both Rin and Utsuho who still remained behind Ciel, and Rin watched as her face dropped slightly.

"C…Ciel, who is she, is she… Lizzie started nervously, but was soon interrupted by Ciel's authoritative command,

"No Lizzie, she is just a distant cousin of ours, her name is Rin Kimyo and this is her maid Utsuho Reiuji." A breath of annoyance followed his explanation.

"Oh, I see!" Lizzie cried, her brightening back into a large grin, "Pleased to meet you, miss Rin Kimyo, my name is Elizabeth Midford, the daughter of the Marquis of Scotteny, but you can call me Lizzie." Elizabeth introduced as she released Ciel from her steel grip to do a polite curtsey towards Rin, and Rin followed in pursuit saying,

"Pleased to meet you miss Lizzie."

"Aww, this is great, now I'll have a female cousin to help me make this manor adorable!" Lizzie squealed with delight as Rin stood there with an awkward smile.

"Oh, isn't that _wonderful_." Rin heard Shizu remark mockingly.

"Lady Elizabeth." Sebastian greeted as he came over holding the once hanging Grell in his hands.

"Oh, hello Sebastian, how are you? " Greeted Elizabeth with another formal bow, she then took a look at the loosely hanging butler in Sebastian's hand.

"Aww, you took him down?" Elizabeth asked disheartened.

"Yeah, you took him down?" Shizu asked almost as disheartened as Elizabeth.

"Yes, he detracted from the beauty of the room." Sebastian explained trying to make the young girl feel better.

"Aww, but I made such a lovely decoration out of him!" Lizzie explained with a depressed tone.

"A decoration?" Sebastian asked puzzled. Lizzie's face brightened even more as she held her hands outward towards the back of the room and squealed with delight,

"Yes, just look at it all, isn't the salon so cute now?"

"Ugh, my mansion, it's so pink." Rin heard Ciel silently groan in disgust.

"From now on only the cutest things belong in the Phantomhive Manor!" Lizzie declared with a giggle, "Don't you agree, Antoinette?" Then, while Lizzie took a pause from her explanation, the whole group turned to look at Tanaka, or what looked to be Tanaka anyways, who wore a bright, golden wig that looked to be an exact match to Lizzie's hair, and a light pink cape tied with a bright pink ribbon in the front

"Oh and Tanaka." Sebastian sighed with a slight smirk, and Rin could tell he was obviously trying to hold back his irritation in order to be polite.

"Oh and I have a present for you too Sebastian!" Lizzie announced as Sebastian turned to look at her. Suddenly, Lizzie took out a massive, brightly pink bonnet covered in both flowers and ribbons and placed it atop Sebastian's head. Rin heard Shizu burst out laughing inside her head. She seemed to laugh so hard she almost lost her breath. Finally she commented,

"This is the greatest thing I have seen in my entire life, someone give this girl a medal for making that loser look like an even bigger loser!" and Rin couldn't help but chuckle a bit, she noticed though that the servants had ceased their laughing as she watched Sebastian bow graciously in front of Lizzie and remark,

"I am deeply honored that you went through so much trouble for a humble servant, your generosity overwhelms me."

"Happy to help!" Lizzie replied with a warm smile.

"In any event, Lizzie, What are you doing here, Auntie didn't let you come alone?" Ciel asked in a monotone voice that seemed to bring down the atmosphere of the room.

"I sneaked away because I wanted to see you, Silly!" Lizzie explained as she took Ciel in another tight but loving embrace.

"You sneaked away, Lizzie, don't you think you get into trouble?" Ceil asked trying to bring his cousin to her senses.

"Eh Sebastian, who is this girl?" Rin heard Grell ask from behind her.

" She is actually my young master's betrothed of several years." Sebastian explained to the puzzled butler, and Rin's shock slowly started to build itself up again.

"That brat, marrying her?" Shizu asked in what sounded like shock mixed with some disgust.

Suddenly, the whole room began to accumulate their own disbelief as the servants suddenly asked in unison.

Master marrying her?"

"Lady Elizabeth is at the nobility after all, she is the daughter of a marquise, nobles marry other nobles, that is how it works." Sebastian explained as everyone turned to look at him.

"Oh, I know, now that the manor is decorated so prettily, why don't we have a ball tonight?" Lizzie suggested enthusiastically, and everyone else seemed to cower at her request. She then took both of Ciel's hands and swung him around as if he were nothing but a stuffed doll and declared,

"You can be my escort and we'll dance all night long, isn't that a wonderful idea?"

"A ball, no!" Ciel snapped angrily, but Lizzie ignored him and chimed,

"You'll wear the clothes I picked out for you, won't you, Pretty please, it'll be so cute on you!"

"Listen, I don't want- but before Ceil could finish, Lizzie pushed him away and continued with her fantasy by announcing,

"And of course I'll be dressed to the night as well!" She then ran over to Grell and beamed,

"You come with me, I'm going to make you even cuter than you already are!" She then tugged at him by the part of the rope he still had attached to his neck and dragged him to the nearest doorway, but not before she took the sleeve of Rin's dress and commanded eagerly,

"Come dear Rin, you're going to help me make this manor and these servant even more cute!" And Rin allowed her self to be dragged away along with Grell. She didn't know whether she should be excited about this new upcoming ball, or nervous that it may end up becoming a disaster.

* * *

**A Bit of a Background on:**

**Rin Kimyo: **Rin is a cute, but childish, young girl, who is not known for talking a whole lot. She lets both her fellow nobles and servants tell her what to do without question. She can come off as quite weird to some people, mostly due to her spaced out behavior and sometimes strange responses as to why she does what she does. Though quite timid, she is not afraid to fight for the people she loves and believes in. She is kind and will do anything she thinks she can do to help others. She is extremely shy around men and people who are hostile towards her.

**The song I think most likely fits her is: Castle of Glass by: Linkin Park **


	7. It Always Knows

***Authors Note: Finally, after all this time, chapter seven is out! Ugh, I thought I was going to be able to finish it yesterday, but that was not so, oh well, it's out now and that's all that matters, at least I hope so...^^; I went by the English dub again, so sorry if I said anything wrong in my quotes, they kind of talk fast. Which reminds me, I got most of the quotes from the anime that weren't from my characters or Utsuho, who I don't think had many quotes. Now that the Lizzie chapter is done, I'm hoping to move on to bigger and better things, like say...the Jack the Ripper Arc! Teehee~ **

**I also got a couple of followers over the break and I just wanted to make a shout out to them and anyone who has been reading my fan ****fiction, thank you so much you guys! -^^-**

Chapter 7: It Always Knows

There was another virtue Shizu did not posses, and that was patience. After her and her host had been dragged away and placed in an eerily silent dressing room, along with the annoyingly incompetent butler that she was sure Rin was starting to develop some sort of feelings for, the two girls were told to sit quietly while the radiating ball of energy they called Lizzie took Grell into the next room with her. The two girls then sat in the silence that followed for what felt like to Shizu to be forever. The room they sat in was pretty big for only being a dressing room, there was a bit of a light that poured into the room, but the large dressing wall that stood behind them mostly concealed it. There was a vanity to the left of them that reminded Shizu of the one in Rin's room, the room also had a faint scent of flowers, perfume Shizu guessed but for all she knew, the whole house could smell like a garden. The girl suddenly came bursting through the door that connected their room to the one that Grell was in and nearly gave both Shizu and Rin a heart attack. Lizzie didn't even give the girls time to breathe before she started to talk.

"Okay Rin, now it's your turn!" The girl declared as she clasped her hands together eagerly, "I do like that dress on you, so maybe that can stay, although, it may look good with a little pink ribbon of some sort, your hair though is a little bland, how about we put some pink ribbon in that instead!" Rin then took a strand of her hair in her fingers and brought it up to her eyes to look at it, it didn't look that bland to her, but she was never one to argue, Shizu on the other hand, was a different story.

"So what, you're just going to let her use you as if you were one of her dolls?" Shizu asked disgusted.

"Sure, why not?" Rin asked innocently, making sure she kept the conversation inside her head.

"Well, it's weird, you're just going to let someone you don't even know play with your hair?" Shizu argued with the disgusted tone still lingering in her voice.

"Well, she's my little cousin, I can't say no, it might make her sad." Rin replied with a bit of an accidental edge.

"Man, you're naïve!" Shizu shot back before returning to the inner corners of Rin's mind, and she could feel Rin was nervous at the fact that she had made her mad, but Shizu didn't feel like comforting her this time.

* * *

"There, all done!" Lizzie declared excitedly as she stepped back from where she stood behind Rin's head to admire her handy work. Rin leaned in closer to the vanity mirror she sat in front of to take a look at what Lizzie had done. She noticed that instead of the large, bouncy curls occupying her head, there were tiny, pink bows entangled in her now quite frizzy hair.

"Th…Thank you, Lizzie." Rin said awkwardly as she watched Lizzie's smile grow from the mirror.

"No problem, Rin, the others are outside if you want to join them, I have to get myself ready so I'll be a few minutes!" Lizzie informed happily as she nearly pushed Rin from her seat and out the door that led to the hallway. Once Rin was finally out in the hallway, she heard Lizzie forcefully shut the door behind her, but not before asking Mey-Rin in to help her with her outfit. Rin then turned her attention to the scene in front of her, the scene was as depicted: Bard Roy, Finni and Tanaka stood in front of her, Finni looked to be dressed up as a black cat with black cat ears, a small bell around his neck and a black maid's-like uniform. Tanaka stood in the middle of him and seemed to be dressed as a queen of some sort with a long purple robe, and a golden crown atop his head to match with his golden fan. Bard was next to him and was dressed in all pink along with a long, red wig. They all turned to look at her, their faces covered in half shock, half Bard spoke up and said,

"She got you too, Miss?" Rin didn't know how to respond so she just slowly and quietly nodded her head. Then Rin and the other three turned their attention to the servant who was dressed in a beautiful white gown with a headband decorated with pink and white flowers to match. He then turned to look at them, his thumb close to lips in a small pout. Rin turned to Bard and whispered quietly in his ear,

"Wh…What's wrong with him, is he okay?", Bard turned to her and whispered back, his breath smelling highly of cigarette smoke and explosives, "I really don't know miss, you see, he's been trying to commit suicide all day, now he wants to do it because his dress isn't "a sexy shade of red"" and with that, Rin turned back to look at Grell, his face still holding the pout. Rin then put a hand up to her lips and giggled softly, she then looked back up at Grell and said with the giggles still lacing her voice,

"I'm sorry, it's just that I think that's silly, I mean you look great in that dress, why would you want harm yourself for something you look great in?" and Immediately after her strange compliment, she felt everyone's eyes on her, even Shizu's.

"A…did you just flirt with him?" Asked Shizu sounding almost horrified.

"I don't think so, what's flirting?" Rin asked unknowingly as she heard Shizu groan with annoyance. Suddenly, the door behind them came bursting open and out came Mey-Rin who seemed to be grasping desperately to her eye glasses while Lizzie, followed her out reaching for what Rin could only guess was Mey-Rin's glasses.

"I'm really far sighted, I can't see anything without my glasses, M'lady!" Screamed Mey-Rin loudly as Lizzie started to catch up to her. Lizzie now sported a dark red dress with long flowing sleeves and large pink ribbons on both her chest, and around her waist. She also wore a bright red headband and red choker necklace with a pink rose on the front

"You don't have to see to have fun, now hand those over silly!" Lizzie demanded as she tried her hardest to rip Mey-Rin's glasses from her head.

"Just leave her alone!" Came the authoritative voice of what sounded like her little cousin. Then everyone turned to see Ceil standing atop the staircase dressed all in a deep blue except for the large ribbon around his neck, which was more of a cream color, his butler stood silently behind him holding what looked to be a walking stick.

"Ceil, you look adorable!" Screamed Lizzie excitedly as she ran over to hug the said boy who was now descending the stairs. She didn't even wait for Ceil to get all the way down the stairs before she took him in her hands and started to spin him as if he was nothing but a single rag doll.

"That looks terrible" Rin heard Shizu remarked as the blonde continued to spin her beloved Fiancé. The girl finally put him down and then seemed to look down at his hand for a quick minute, she then quickly changed her mood from overjoyed to outraged when she demanded,

"Ceil, why aren't you wearing the ring I brought you, it matches your clothing perfectly, now where did it go?" Ceil in response to her question pushed her lightly away and said bluntly,

"The ring I have already on will work." But Lizzie did not take that as an excuse and started to scream like a small child having a tantrum,

"No, I went to so much trouble, that ring isn't cute at all!" She then fell to the ground in a heap of tears crying, "Aww, why won't you wear the ring that I picked out especially for you, you're so cruel, I just want everything to be perfect!"

"That's not it." Ceil calmly said through her wailing, "Lizzie, this ring is… but before he could finish, Lizzie turned around and snatched the ring from his thumb and held it in the air for everyone to see as she yelled in triumph,

"It's mine now!"

"Lizzie. " Ceil commanded calmly but sternly.

"This is far to big for you, the one I made you will fit perfectly, just put it on and…

"Give it back!" Ceil demanded with surprising harshness at his fiancé, it turned everyone else's attention towards the two of them, the air around them became hostile.

"Give me that ring, now Elizabeth." Ceil ordered as he held a hand out for the said object. The girl in response coward slightly as she asked,

"Wh…. why are so angry at me, I just wanted…But she stopped herself and if Rin had to guess, it was because of the harsh look in Ceil's eyes. She then took a step back, holding the ring close to her chest, her bright green eyes widening in fear as she explained,

"I just wanted everything to look adorable that's all, so why are you so angry?" She then exploded with rage as she announced to everyone,

"I hate this ring, Take it!" She then threw it on the ground, smashing it into tiny shards of blue and silver. Ceil's face turned from angry to furious in about a mere second, he then proceeded to run towards Lizzie, who in turns stepped back as Ceil started to raise his hand at her. She screamed, tears filling the ends of her eyes, but thankfully, the slap was never able to reach her. Sebastian came up from behind his master and grabbed his wrist mid air, he then gave him the walking stick they must have bought that morning in town, Rin had heard Finni had broken his old one.

"Master, you forgot the walking stick we went through so much trouble to get."

"Oh wow, way to go Sebastian, someone should give this guy best butler of the year award, I mean seriously!" Shizu said sarcastically as Rin thought she heard the noise of what sounded like someone clapping inside her head. Rin then noticed her two cousins panting, their chests moving up and down slowly, their breaths heavy. Sebastian walked up to his master's tearful fiancé who was rubbing her eyes with her fists and stated with his hand over his chest,

"Forgive my master lady Elizabeth, but that ring was something very important to him, it was a precious heirloom passed down form the head of the Phantomhive family, he's grown quite attached to it, it's truly one of a kind." Lizzie than looked up, her bright green eyes reflecting the sadness she seemed to feel as Sebastian continued,

"Please try to understand why it is upsetting to him."

"It was that important to him, and I destroyed it?" Lizzie asked weepily as Ceil began to pick up the shattered remains of his ring. He then started to make his way slowly towards the window as Lizzie begged,

"Aw, Ceil please I- but her apology was cut short when Ceil threw the last thing anyone ever thought he'd throw out the window. Everyone including Rin herself gasped in surprise as Lizzie ran over to the window and screamed,

"Ceil wait, what are you doing?"

"It doesn't matter, it's nothing but an old ring after all" Ceil said indifferently as Lizzie continued to stare out the open window in search of the already lost object.

"Even without it, I'm still the head of the Phantomhive', and that won't change!" Ceil Declared as she slammed the end of his cane on the ground. Everyone then proceeded to stare at him, his or her eyes widened in amazement. The boy then walked over to his weeping fiancé who still stood near the window.

"How long are you going to cry? Ceil asked almost coldly as Lizzie continued to rub her eyes with her fists, her face as red as a tomato. She looked up at the questioning boy and cried with sobs filling her words,

"But…but…I'm so sorry…" Ceil then grabbed his dark blue hat he had been wearing earlier but had apparently had taken off, and put it back on his head.

"Your face is a mess, completely unsuitable for a lady." Ceil stated to Lizzie as he took a handkerchief from his coat and started to wipe Lizzie's tear stained face with it.

"How could I possibly ask a lady with a runny noise and puffy eyes to dance?" Ceil then questioned as Rin thought she saw a smile play on the usually sullen boy's face. She watched as Lizzie looked up from the handkerchief she had been using to blow her nose and noticed her eyes started to sparkle as she asked unbelieving,

"To dance?" Everyone then looked over at Sebastian, who was now at the top of the stairs, playing the violin; it's graceful melody echoing through the room. She then watched as Grell ran over near the railing to sing with Sebastian's melody. For a very clumsy butler, he had quite a surprisingly beautiful voice. Rin then looked over to see Ceil holding out a hand for Lizzie to take and Lizzie looked at it with disbelief; she then looked up at him.

"So then, we are agreed, we will forget our cares and dance the night away, it's decided." Ceil said with another unusual smile. Lizzie seemed to glow with happiness as she took Ceil's hand, never had Rin seen anyone quite as happy as the couple before her.

* * *

"Don't worry, I'll make sure she gets home safely, you can count on me!" Grell assured as Sebastian, the three servants, Rin and Utsuho stood outside in front of the manor and in front of the carriage that sat in wait to be driven away. Inside the carriage, Rin watched Grell place her little cousin Elizabeth after she had fallen asleep from all the dancing she and Ceil had done. The sky had turned dark and stars had scattered across it to help the large moon provide some light. The air around them was quite warm despite the minor chill Rin kept feeling every so often.

"Are you sure?" Bard asked quite skeptically and in response Grell put a hand to his heart and said,

"Indeed, I'm a more deadly efficient than I appear."

"I feel like that was supposed to be a pun of some sort." Rin thought she heard Shizu comment. Grell than ran up to Sebastian and took both his hands as he said,

"Thank you so much Sebastian, I'm in your debt you taught me a lot about what it means to be a butler, they say that before a person dies his life flashes before him, and I know that when I see the light of death, this momentous evening will appear to me, my dying vision!"

"All I know that is if you do not get out of here soon, the only dying vision you'll be having is the one where I make you and this ground one, you creep!" Shizu screamed from inside Rin's head, she was kind of glad Shizu wasn't mad at her anymore, but she really didn't want her to be mad at Grell either.

"That's true, he hasn't been very good at dying so far has he?" Rin heard Mey-Rin remark and then realized she had completely zoned out on the conversation, again. Rin thought she saw Grell give her one last glance before heading atop the carriage.

"Nah uh, don't you think about it girl!" Rin heard Shizu scold and Rin jumped at attention.

"Th…think about what?" Rin asked nervously as she made sure to keep the conversation in her head again.

"Don't you for a second think about liking that weirdo, he's no good, can't you feel it?" Shizu said and Rin started to realize she was actually developing feelings for Grell, but she didn't know why, was it because they were both shy, hopeless fools who were only known for being incompetent and childish.

"Listen to your gut man, it knows, it always knows." Shizu told her as Rin noticed that she could feel something, something that seemed to warn her and she continued to try to figure out what it was telling her while the carriage that was once in front of the manor, started to fade into the blackness of the night until nothing but the silence could be heard.


	8. Prime Laughter

**Author's Note* Yay, I finally got Chapter eight done! *wipes sweat off forehead* Haha, sorry if this is a bit of a long one, I still have the rest of this episode to go so, yeah...but I thought where I stopped was the best place to stop so I didn't make the chapter too long or too confusing. I used episode 4 of the anime, English subbed this time, but I'm still sorry if I messed up any quotes! Thank you so much for reading and have a lovely Morning/Evening! **

**Note: I do not ship Rin and the Undertaker, those Undertaker fans out there probably already know he can be extremely touchy, and the reason he's being so touchy to Rin should hopefully make sense soon, but for now, I just thought I would point this out! ^^; **

Chapter 8: Prime Laughter

The cool, crisp air had finally dissipated into the hot, humid atmosphere that had taken over the bustling town of London, England. Rin, her younger cousin Ceil, and her maid Utsuho were in a carriage heading for what Rin thought she heard Ceil say was his townhouse. She eyed her cousin who sat across from her and was staring intently at an envelope. Her curious little mind then wondered what was in that envelope, a letter probably, but what did the letter say? Rin then turned to the window next to her and started to stare absorbedly at the scenery that passed her by like she always did on long carriage rides. She finally flashed back to reality when she realized Sebastian was stopping in front of a large, well-kept manor, it wasn't nearly as large as the Phantomhive manor, but it was quite big. She then began to wonder how many homes Ceil owned in London. They parked in front of the mansion's front staircase and both nobleman where escorted out of the carriage by the help of their servants.

"Ugh, there are too many people in London." Rin heard Ceil complain as they all made their way to the front door. Sebastian walked in front of the group and opened the front door for them, bowing politely as they all stepped through.

"From the country manor to the London town house, it's traditional for the nobility to move en masse for the season." Sebastian seemed to explain to the group as they headed upstairs. Rin couldn't help but gaze at everything from the high ceilings, to the patterns on the floor, her mind felt both overwhelmed and ecstatic at the same time, she wondered what exploring could be done at this house.

"The season, eh, honestly these cretins have too much free time." Rin heard Ceil say, grabbing a part of her attention away from her little adventure.

"Getting away occasionally might provide some nice change of pace, for one thing, those four aren't here." Sebastian said trying to make up for his master's lack of optimism, "we should be able to have some quiet time, M'Lord."

"Quiet time, hmm?" Ceil inquired as Sebastian opened the door, to what Rin guessed could be another drawing room, for his master. Rin eagerly tried to look over Sebastian's shoulder and into the newly revealed room, but to no avail at first. Both Ceil and Sebastian then moved away slightly and Rin could finally see, but she felt all excitement she had been feeling earlier drain away from her in little pieces with everything she saw. The somewhat small green couch that sat in the middle of the room was cluttered with an array of items as well as the small, rectangular coffee table that stood in front of it. Behind the couch stood a few towers of books that stood in front of the large window, there were also three people Rin didn't think were supposed to be there at the time.

"For goodness sake, where do they keep the tea in this place?" Madame Red asked almost desperately as she searched through a large, open cabinet that stood next to the couch.

"I can't find it either." Lau said as he sat on the floor in front of them peering into a small, beautifully decorated vase.

"Oh silly, of course it's not over there!" Madame Red laughed as Rin along with the rest of the group stared puzzled at the three uninvited guests.

"Madame Red, Lau, what are you doing here?" Ceil screamed into the room at the oblivious pair.

"Grell!" Rin cheered happily making her way into the room as well.

"Good gracious." Rin heard Shizu sigh; it had been a while since she had last heard from Shizu.

"Goodness, you're here early." Madame Red exclaimed as both her, Lau, and Grell turned to look at the group.

"You coming here can only mean one thing." Lau started.

"The Queen's watch dog is making a move." Madame Red finished with a bit of a smirk. Rin then looked over at Ceil who stood next to her staring ahead indifferently. She had never heard Ceil be called "The Queen's Watch Dog" before.

* * *

"Another prostitute was murdered in Whitechapel yesterday, these aren't ordinary murders, they are bizarre, no you could fairly call them aberrant." Ceil explained to the group who sat at the large table, an array of food placed in front of them.

"A special blade was used on the most recent victim, Mary Ann Nichols, and she was torn apart beyond all recognition." Sebastian continued to explain to the group while his master started to eat.

"Here's what Scotland Yard and the press are calling the criminal." Ceil paused for a moment before continuing, "Jack the Ripper"

"Jack the Ripper eh, that sounds interesting." Rin heard Shizu muse to herself with almost a sick enthusiasm as Rin started to cut the cake Sebastian had respectfully placed in front of her.

"Jack the Ripper, eh?" Asked Lau.

"So I hurried to London to ascertain the situation." Ceil announced completing his explanation.

"Do you have the guts to see the scene of the crime?" Lau suddenly asked Ceil with a sneer.

"What do you mean?" Ceil asked not even sounding offended.

"The darkness and bestial stench that pervade the scene eat away those who share the same destiny, if you set foot upon it, you may be consumed by madness, are you prepared for that, Lord Phantomhive?" Lau asked as he walked over towards Ceil to grab the side of his face in his hand.

"I came here to dispel her worries, don't ask foolish questions." Ceil responded without even acting upon Lau's touch. Rin then started to wonder if she should take what Lau had just said to heart. She knew from what she could remember that she herself was not as strong willed as her cousin, she had a very weak tolerance for blood, gore and death, should she follow her cousin into this investigation?

"Very nice, I like the look in your eye." Lau complimented. He then turned to look at Rin who sat up in surprise. he started to walk over towards her as he asked eerily,

"How about you, miss, from what I know, you are somewhat new to this family and quite an innocent one from what I've seen, do you think you'll be able to handle this investigation?" Rin started to panic at the sudden question, and didn't know how to answer him, she didn't even know how to answer herself with that question, what could she say? Suddenly, Rin felt herself leave her body for the time being, she could no longer move her arms or her legs at free will, she had accidently let her out again but she did nothing to stop her. Rin's childishly terrified face had turned into a large confident smirk, a small laugh escaped her lips.

"Of course, like the kid just said, don't ask foolish questions." Shizu replied and turned to look up at the look of sheer disbelief that was now playing on Lau's face, it quickly turned into a satisfied grin as he said,

"Marvelous." Shizu then turned to look at Madame Red and Grell with somewhat of a larger grin, but all Madame Red gave her in return was a glare as cold as ice. Shizu's face quickly turned into a scowl as she let Rin take her body back. Once back in control of her body again, Rin began to look around the room in confusion, though she already knew what had just happened.

* * *

It's not that Rin didn't enjoy travelling to different places, it was just that being stuck in a carriage twice in one day was not on her list of "Top Ten Most Exciting Things To Do", also being jammed into a carriage with a few other people was also not as fun as some people may think. The whole carriage reeked of floral perfume mixed with cigarette smoke which almost suffocated Rin.

"Are we there yet?" Shizu whined loudly as they pulled up to a large alleyway. Once they stopped, the whole group inside the carriage poured out and made their way through the tightly packed crowd of people that stood in their way. Once their group was out in front, Rin watched as her cousin and his butler made their way over to a man who wore a long, tan overcoat and was looking over a small stack of papers. Small tufts of his reddish-brown hair peeked out from under the small black hat he wore atop his head. Rin did the best she could to over hear their conversation.

"What brings you here?" The man asked innocently as if he were talking to an immature child, "This is no place for a child, go on home"

"Where is the victim's corpse?" Asked Ceil sternly, completely ignoring the man's request, the man then jumped in surprise as he asked,

"Corpse, what are you saying?"

"Abberline!" Called an older, huskier voice from down the alleyway. They all turned to see a large, older man appearing from the shadows, he wore a light brown over coat, small, square-rimmed glasses and a large black top hat that concealed most of his dark gray hair except for the large side burns around his cheeks and the small mustache above his bottom lip.

What are you doing here, Lord Phantomhive?" questioned the man angrily.

"You know him?" The younger man, Abberline, asked the older man.

"I came to clean up after the slow-moving hound working this case, sir Arthur Randall." Her cousin said calmly holding up what she believed to be the envelope she had seen him reading earlier in the carriage. She then watched as Ceil yanked the papers Abberline had been holding, out of his grasped, and started to glance them over himself.

"It looks as if you haven't gotten many clues." Ceil said flipping through the papers, Arthur then snatched the papers back from Ceil's hands and said irritably,

"We of Scotland Yard will solve this case, we don't need your interference."

"Excellent, let's go, Sebastian." Ceil commanded as the walked back towards the crowd,

"Yes, My lord." She heard Sebastian quietly respond. Ceil and Sebastian then merged back with the group.

"What will we do?" Madame Red asked Ceil as the group started to walk away from the crime scene.

"The best thing would probably go to visit him." Ceil said plainly.

"My Lord, you don't mean…. Lau trailed off suspiciously while Rin started to become uncomfortable, who were they talking about, who was "him?"

"Indeed I do." Ceil said as a matter of fact while they kept walking.

* * *

They all stood in front of a somewhat large, rundown shop with large coffins and tombstones that sat against the front of the building's exterior and added to the structure's eeriness. Rin looked up to read the sign that hung above the front door, shielding her eyes from the blinding sun as she did so.

"Undertaker." She read to herself.

"Undertaker, like a mortician, geez I understand that brat's reasoning in wanting to come here, but I don't want to go in there, it probably smells like death." Shizu complained.

"So, where are we?" Rin heard Lau ask the group.

"You just spoke as if you knew all about it, didn't you?" Madame Red turned to scream at Lau.

"It's a funeral Parlor run by an acquaintance of the young master." Sebastian explained, enlightening the group. Rin then started to feel the uneasiness she had been feeling before settle into the pits of her stomach, she had no idea why, but she was now extremely nervous to go in there.

"Ah, don't worry about it, its probably run by some old fart who's probably not as creepy as they seem." Shizu said trying to reassure Rin, but it didn't seem to help, Rin could feel the inside of her palms start to sweat, and the beat of her heart start to quicken as they walked into the dark, musky shop.

"Ugh, see I told you it would smell like crap, cover your nose so I don't have to breath in this nasty air!" Shizu ordered, but the words did not seem to reach Rin who now through the pulsing heart beat in her ears, could feel her arm start to become sore again.

"Not this again." Shizu huffed silently, She then noticed that Rin's maid kept glancing over at her, a look of concern was hinted on her face, but she never asked if Rin was okay or helped her in any way, did she know what this thing was that was bugging Rin?

"Are you here, Undertaker?" Rin heard Ceil call out indifferently into the room as they walked in. Rin looked around the pitch-black room, but saw nothing even resembling a human, only a set of multiple coffins that covered most of the floor. Suddenly a small, high pitched laugh echoed through the room. Rin felt the voice of the laugh run up her spine like a pair of slender fingers, and she shivered.

"I thought you'd drop by before long." The voice proceeded to say as Rin and the others started to look around the room nervously. Then a noise started to echo throughout the room along with the voice, Rin turned around to see that the coffin in the back of the room was starting to open very slowly and Rin could feel her arm start to become sore again.

"Welcome, My Lord." Said a person from inside the now half-opened coffin.

"Is today the day you'll condescend to enter one of my special coffins?" The person asked hopefully as soon as they were all the way out of the coffin. Judging form the voice, Rin could tell it was a male, though it was hard to make out exactly what he looked like due to the fact hew wore mainly dark clothing. Though, she thought she could depict the color of his long hair to be a light gray.

"Certainly not, today I…But before Ceil could finish, the man, the Undertaker, put a long, dark fingernail to the boys lips and said,

"You don't have to tell me, I already know, that wasn't the type of customer fit for respectable people, I'll have you know I made her beautiful. "

"Well, I was right about the fact that he was an old fart." Shizu stated bluntly.

"I want to hear about it." Ceil demanded to the Undertaker, but the Undertaker seemed to have his sights set on something else, or to be more precise, someone else.

"My, my, what a lovely guest you have brought today, My Lord." The Undertaker said unnervingly as he started to walk towards Rin, who stood cowering in front of a large coffin, her maid in the back of her making sure she didn't fall.

"She's a distant cousin of mine, and has nothing to do with why I came here, so please leave her be." Ceil demanded irritated, but by now, the Undertaker had Rin in his arms, his long fingernails digging into her hip, his clothes and breath smelling of rotting corpses and cleaning material. Rin could feel her arm throbbing now and she tried her hardest to not cry out because of it.

"Actually, I believe she has more to do with why you came here than you think, young Earl." The man said as he held Rin's chin up with a single black fingernail so that she could look into his eyes, and Rin could see that his eyes were a bright greenish-yellow color, and she could have sworn she saw that color of eye somewhere before, but she couldn't remember at the time, she also noticed he had a somewhat large scar from the top of his right eye to the bottom of his cheek, as well as around his neck.

"What the heck are you talking about you creep, get your hands off of my host!" Shizu screamed defensively and undetected.

"Ah, I see, so the funeral parlor is your cover business." Lau stated obliviously,

"How much is the info?" Suddenly, the Undertaker seemed to forget all about her at that moment and Rin felt herself being dropped. She probably would have landed smack on the floor if her maid hadn't caught her by her skinny little arms. Rin then turned to watch as the Undertaker leaned into Lau, his creepy green eyes peering into his as he said,

"I have no desire for the Queen's coins!" Lau in return made a slight squeak as the Undertaker turned his eyes back towards Ceil. He then suddenly appeared before Ceil, leaning in closely as he said quite desperately,

"Come on, My Lord, give it to me!"

"Eww gross, give you what you old creep?" Shizu asked sounding extremely creeped out, and as if to answer her question, the Undertaker stood up and announced to the whole store with a bit of drool hanging from his mouth,

"Give me prime laughter!"

"Well, at least that's better than what I was afraid you were going to say." Shizu sighed as Rin finally started to get up.

"Do that and I'll tell you anything!" The Undertaker finished with bizarre excitement as he started to dance around in the middle of the room.

"Freak." Sebastian, Ceil and Shizu all said simultaneously.

"Leave it to me!" Rin heard Lau assure, "Behold, the genius of the man that Shanghai called, The Sleeping Tiger of New Year's Parties!"

"Whatever that means." Rin heard Shizu comment as Lau continued to remark with a strange smile,

"Every calendar's days are numbered." There was a long, awkward pause for a while, but eventually, Lau was thrown to the back.

"If I must." Rin heard Madame Red say from next to her, " Madame Red, the belle of fashionable society!" and with the introduction, she threw out her arms in a flamboyant manner.

"Oh boy." Shizu said with sarcastic enthusiasm. Rin then felt Utsuho's hands cover her ears and she could no longer hear what Madame Red was saying. After a long moment of muffled silence for Rin, Utsuho finally removed her hands when Madame Red was thrown to the back. Undertaker then set his gaze upon Rin once again, and before she knew it, he was right in front of her, gazing his hungry eyes into hers,

"Now my dear, how about you?" He asked ravenously, his pungent breath hitting her face.

"I…um…Rin trailed off trying to find something to say, "I'm not really that funny…

"Come on my dear, what's the point if you don't even try?" He asked, his grin widening a bit more.

"Undertaker!" Ceil commanded, as the Undertaker turned towards his name. The Undertaker disappeared once more from Rin's presence and back to Ceil's.

"Now, my lord, it would seem you are the only one left." The Undertaker stated, "I gave you a special discount last time, but I won't do it again." And she watched as her cousin started to become aggravated.

"I see there's no help for it." Rin heard Sebastian suddenly state as he started to walk towards the center of the room.

"Sebastian?" Ceil asked.

"Everyone, please wait outside." Sebastian ordered as he started to tighten his gloves, he then turned back towards everyone with a cold glare and warned,

"You must not peek inside on any account."

* * *

For the time being, nothing but silence could be heard, and Rin wondered if Sebastian had failed them, but she kind of found that hard to believe. A few minutes into the silence, a roar of laughter shook the slightly large shop, surprising everyone and knocking the bulky sign off the top of the building. The door to the shop then opened with a loud squeak and inside Sebastian said with an unnervingly warm smile,

"Please come in, it appears he will tell us everything."


	9. Awkward Teenager Stage

**Authors Note: Sorry for the long wait with this one, but I was going back through some of my older Chapters and kind of sprucing them up a bit, and man, did they need some sprucing up! If you haven't already and would like to check out this older chapters out, please feel free to do so, but for those solely waiting for this chapter, well my friends, wait no longer because here it is! Sorry if it's a bit long, but I wanted to finish the episode, it actually didn't end the way I thought it did, oh well! Thank you so much for reading and have a lovely morning/evening! ^^**

**Also, sorry to those Madame Red fans out there, I know I make her seem like the bad guy in this, it's just that I think she would make a pretty good mean girl, I don't know, but I do apologize! **

Chapter 9: Awkward Teenager Stage.

"These days, I often get customers who are incomplete." The Undertaker started to explain to the group, who sat encircling him on top of bulky coffins, the servants stood in the back and listened carefully. In their hands were clear beakers filled with warm tea.

"Incomplete?" Sebastian asked inquisitively.

"Yes, incomplete, the wombs are missing. " The Undertaker continued to explain as he took out a large, doll-like figure, it's body showed half human flesh and half muscle as well as some other bodily insides. He then proceeded to point to where the womb would be, everyone in response gasped in horror.

"Though the killer makes quite violent splatter, the wombs themselves are neatly cut out." The Undertaker said almost admiringly as he took the doll and turned it to make its eyes face him, as if now he were talking to it instead of the audience.

"It was done on a public road, even if it was not a high-traffic one, wouldn't such an excision have been difficult of an amateur, particularly in the middle of the night?" Sebastian asked as the Undertaker put the doll away, he then started to stroke it gently.

"You're a smart one, butler, that's my opinion as well." The Undertaker stated as he turned from the doll and started to walk towards Ceil and Rin. He leaned into Ceil first whispering,

"First the ripper slashes their throats with a sharp hand weapon." He then proceeded to make a hand gesture indicating just that near Ceil's small, fragile throat. He leaned into Rin who sat next to Ceil on his right. He then started to whisper into her ear as well, the odor of death and decay masking his breath as well as his shadowy clothing,

"Then cuts _this _part open, cutting out what's precious to them." He then made a hand gesture at the lower part of her body, to demonstrate what he was saying.

"I'm sure there will be others killed." The Undertaker remarked as he started to get up,

"People like that don't stop until someone stops them." He then started to walk back towards his doll, he then stopped to turn around and ask a question, his question directed at Ceil,

"Can you do it, o villainous noble Lord Phantomhive?"

"On the honor of my family crest, I eliminate anyone who defiles the Queen's garden without exception and by any means necessary." Ceil answered stoically.

* * *

"What he said narrows down the field of suspects considerably" Ceil stated as their carriage made it's through the town. Rin tried to her hardest to collect all of her sanity after it had been scattered throughout the Undertaker's shop, she didn't even care if her cousin and maid were slowly squishing into her with every small bump they hit.

"First, those well versed in medicine or dissection, from among them, those who have no alibis for the nights before the murders discoveries, and given the removal of internal organs, it seems ritualistic, we should also consider, those involved with secret societies and black magic." Sebastian explained to the group.

"That doesn't narrow the field at all, I'm a doctor, _I_ could have done the dissection!" Madame Red pointed out, "And summer is ending, before another week passes the season will be over and any doctors the nobleman brought in from the country will go back ho-

"Then we'll simply conclude our investigation before then." Sebastian affirmed with a large confident smile.

"What?" Lau asked alarmed.

"A Phantomhive butler who can't do that much isn't worth his salt." Sebastian informed the group with another slightly smaller smile as the others stared at him in shock.

"Whatever." Shizu stated from Rin's head as Sebastian started to lean in closer to Ceil to explain,

"I'll make a list of suspects now and question all of them." He then began the throw open the carriage door and started to climb out.

"Now, if you'll excuse me." Sebastian said humbly as he hung out of the carriage door as if it were not moving at all, Ceil waving him off as he continued to stay there. After a long second, Sebastian suddenly vanished leaving the carriage door to close by itself. Soon after a long pause, both Madame Red and Lau got out of their seats to look out the back window of the carriage for Sebastian.

"This Carriage is moving!" Screamed Madame Red in horror.

"Thank you Captain Obvious!" Shizu grunted sarcastically, "Ugh, I hope that guy gets run over by another carriage."

"Sebastian said he'd do it, we can just sip some tea and wait." Ceil stated completely unfazed at what just happened to his butler.

* * *

Once she was guided out of the carriage, Rin, with Utsuho at her heels, ran to catch up to the group who were already unlocking the front door. They all seemed to freeze right in their tracks as Rin finally caught up to them. She couldn't really see what they saw since they all had blocked her view, but something in her gut told her that Sebastian was home.

"Welcome back, I've been awaiting your arrival, your afternoon tea is ready." Sebastian announced as Ceil gladly made his way into the house, handing Sebastian his top hat as he did so. Rin was a bit more hesitant with straying from the stunned crowd, so she decided to wait patiently as Madame Red asked loudly,

"How did you get here?"

"I finished my errands, so I came home ahead of you." Sebastian answered plainly, another smile planted on his lips.

"You already finished your suspect list?" Madame Red asked a bit more quietly, but still clearly surprised.

"No, I merely created a list of names based on the criteria we discussed, contacted them all, and directly collected their statement." Sebastian responded as he held up three rolled up pieces of paper, each decorated with a small black ribbon that tied around its neatly compressed body, complete with a small flower-like seal in the middle of the ribbon.

"Come now, Sebastian, even for you that would be impossible…. but before Madame Red could finish her statement, Sebastian ripped open the neatly wrapped scrolls, and began to read the names off the gigantic list that was now being revealed to them,

"Richard Oswald, family doctor of the Duke of Bailey, has an alibi: he spent the night with his friends at the White Horse Pub, no connection to secret societies…" Sebastian continued to read the list as Rin watched along with the rest of the group. She looked over at Lau who had a small smile on his lips; she looked next to her and noticed that Grell was blushing heavily. She then saw Madame Red who stood in front of her and even though she couldn't see her face, she could tell she was shocked by the way her large, red and black hat kept sliding ever so slowly off her head. She didn't have to look at her cousin; she just knew somehow that he was smiling with arrogance. Once Sebastian was finally finished, he let the last bit of paper he held in his hand to fall to the floor and he started to explain,

Through this investigation, I've narrowed it down to one person who met the criteria."

"Are you really just a butler, are you sure you're not a military intelligence officer?" Madame Red inquired with skepticism starting to replace her astonishment.

"No, I am merely one hell of a butler." Sebastian replied with another large, proud smile.

* * *

"Aleister Chamber the Viscount of Druitt, he graduated from medical school, but has not gone into practice, he has thrown several parties at his home, however, people say he simultaneously holds secret parties that only his intimates may attend" Sebastian started to explain as Rin looked down at her hands that sat palms up on her lap, shaking ever so slightly with nervousness, sweat building from the hot, humid air inside the moving carriage mixed with the anxiety she was feeling. Rin had never remembered being to a party before, and she was afraid she would somehow end up embarrassing herself, that was only part of the reason she was so nervous. Utsuho had picked out a dress for her to wear to the party; it was a pretty deep red that spit into black down the middle. Long, flowing red sleeves draped most of the way down with hints of black at the cuffs as well as some draping the rest of the way down to her fingertips. The collar of the dress went almost all the way up her throat, decorated with two red ribbons at the base of her neck. Rin liked the dress, she really did, and Utsuho had told she had liked it as well. It was just Shizu had told her she hated the color, and thought it looked absolutely horrible, and now Rin was starting to doubt that it looked good on her, she never had worn any shade of red before, maybe it really wasn't her color. She also noticed that from the corner of her eye, her aunt kept giving her dirty looks, but she had no idea why, what had she done?

"I've heard rumors that he's into black magic and that sort of thing." Madame Red added.

"So you suspect that at these underground parties, they preform ceremonies and sacrifice the prostitutes?" Lau asked as their carriage proceeded to pull up to a massive, beautifully lit manor. An escort of the manor's then proceeded to open the door of their carriage as it sat next to the front entry way. They first escorted her cousin out, who wore a beautiful, draping pink and white dress with tiny bows at the bottom. A large, white ruffled top that also acted as sleeves encircled his chest. There was a large black and white stripped ribbon placed upon the front of his dress with a large, light pink rose in the middle of it. A small, white and pink ruffled chocker was placed around his neck. His hair was made to look longer with the help of two ponytail extensions that matched the same dark blue as his hair. Concealing most of his hair as well as cleverly masking his usually covered eye was a large, light pink hat with a white ribbon tied around as well as a crown made of light pink roses that drooped down over his usually hidden eye, and adding a beautiful touch to his dress, the dress Rin was not sure why he was wearing.

"We only have one chance." Ceil stated as they all made their way into the manor.

* * *

"Ceil will play my niece visiting from the country." Madame Red started to explain to the group excitedly as Ceil stood pouting at his new role, "and Sebastian will play Ceil's tutor." Madame Red continued as Sebastian fixed his newly acquired glasses. Sebastian was dressed in a long, tan overcoat that covered his normal butler attire, the only difference to this attire though was that instead of a tie, he wore a large, reddish scarf –like piece that was tied around his neck and then tucked neatly into his suit.

"Why do I have to play your niece, why can't Rin do it, she's a _girl_?!" Ceil asked as a deep blush started to form around his cheeks.

"I always wanted a girl!" Madame Red chimed and seemed to be completely ignoring the fact that Rin _was_ a girl, Madame Red wore almost the exact same color scheme as Rin, Her long, sleeveless dress went down to her feet, a white, fluffy boa draped around her shoulders. She wore black, elbow length gloves, and her normal black and red hat was replaced with an all red hat with white feathers placed at the top that drooped wore a large choker around her neck with a sizable, deep purple gem in the middle and another gold necklace that attached to it and encircled the rest of her neck. She held a black, lacey fan with white tips in her hand; Grell stood behind her and wore his normal butler outfit.

"That's your reason, then why didn't you use Rin?!" Ceil screamed furiously at his aunt as Rin could feel herself looking down almost shamefully. Ignoring Ceil's question, Madame Red leaned in closer to Ceil and whispered with the black, laced fan she held covering her chin slightly,

"You can't let them find out you're a Phantomhive, can you, what's more, I'm told Lord Druitt is a ladies' man of catholic tastes, so this is to your advantage." Madame Red fished with a large, satisfied smile as she watched her cousin's face turn from embarrassed, to disgust.

"Didn't you say you'd use any means necessary?" Sebastian asked mockingly, and Ceil in response turned to give him another one of his famous, death glares.

* * *

After parting from their group, Rin and Utsuho made their way through the large crowd of people that occupied most of the room. Rin had started formulating a plan, a plan in which she would end up being the one to find Aleister Chamber, she didn't know why exactly, but she wanted to prove herself to her aunt. She assumed that Shizu had a lot to do with why she was feeling this way, even if she hadn't heard from her in quite some time. She wanted to keep this plan from her maid, though she trusted her, she feared that Utsuho would try to stop her in fear of Rin getting herself hurt.

"M'lady?" Utsuho finally asked after a long moment of silence.

"Yes, Utsuho?" Rin giggled.

"Where are you planning on going?" Utsuho questioned with a giggle of her own. Rin then stopped abruptly in the middle of the room, Utsuho was right, where was she going? She didn't even know what Aleister Chamber looked like, how would she ever find him in this massive gathering? Rin also had to think of some way to get rid of Utsuho for the moment, though she didn't like the thought of it, she had to find this man by herself as not to make him too suspicious. She started to look frenetically around the room for some sort of excuse to leave her maid. She finally found it, a refreshment stand; she would ask her maid if she could get herself something to drink.

"_Well, here goes nothing." _She told herself as she felt herself start to open her mouth.

"Utsuho, would you mind if I got myself something to drink?" Rin asked shakily.

"Oh, M'lady, I can get you a drink." Utsuho offered politely and Rin started to panic a bit, she was afraid her maid would offer to get it for her,

"No, that's okay, I got it, you just wait over there, and I'll be right back." Rin replied pointing to a wall at their right, the anxiety choking her making it hard to speak and point properly.

"Are you sure M'lady?" Utsuho inquired, starting to become worried and Rin nodded becoming too afraid to speak. Rin then watched as her maid made way over to the wall, and Rin started to make her way over towards the refreshment stand in the back. The stand was a long, gorgeously decorated table with a bright white tablecloth covering it. There was a massive amount of food and beverages lining the top of it, the guests had eaten most of the food, and the punch bull was halfway full. Rin gradually made her way over to the punch bowl, looking over her shoulders every so often to see if she could find anyone somewhat resembling Aleister Chamber. She was pouring a fair amount of punch into her small, glass cup, hoping nobody had drugged it, when she heard a loud, male voice announce,

"Ahh, such an exquisite gown, on even more exquisite woman!" and Rin quickly turned her head to see a tall, blonde man standing behind her, He was dressed quite handsomely in almost all white, his long, golden blond hair reaching his to about his shoulders, his dark purple eyes fixated on her. Rin seemed to have lost all ability to speak as he started to make his way towards her. Once he was in front of her, Rin felt him place one of his hands on the bottom of her back, the other propping her chin up to look into his dark, purple eyes. His clothes smelled highly of expensive perfume, and his breath smelled slightly of wine.

"A…are you Aleister Chamber?" Rin finally managed to ask as seriously as she could as the man kept his hand on her chin.

"And what if I was, my sweet Scarlet Tanager?" The man asked, a slight purr at the end of his question. Rin started to feel herself go silent, what was she going to say, she didn't even think she would get this far this fast, her hands started to shake slightly and her mind raced to find something to say. Suddenly, she could sense a presence stir inside her mind, and only hoped it was her.

"Aww geez, I try to take a two hour nap and this is what I have to wake up to?" Shizu screamed aggravated, "Are we still going after Jack the Ripper?" but Rin couldn't answer either out loud or in her mind, her mind started to go dead.

"You seem quiet my song bird, why don't you sing for me?" Aleister suggested as he brought Rin's lips closer to his, "why don't we go finish this somewhere private, my sweet Scarlet Tanager?"

"Hey, if Jack the Ripper is looking for another prostitute, I think we found one!" Shizu declared somewhat happily, "Hey Jack the Ripper, over here, we found a prostitute for you!" but when she didn't get the response she was looking for, Shizu kept screaming within Rin's head,

"Jack the Ripper, get you lazy butt over here and kill this piece of crap, geez, where are you when you are _actuall_y needed!" Rin looked over to see if her maid was watching, but she seemed to be talking to Sebastian instead, Rin then tried to see from where she was if Ceil was with him, but she couldn't see him. There came a sudden, small, sweet voice from behind Aleister, turning his attention away from Rin and giving her time to free herself a bit.

"Excuse me, are you Aleister Chamber?"

"Jack The Ripper?!" Shizu asked almost too eagerly when in fact it was not Jack the Ripper but instead her little cousin dressed beautifully in his quite unnecessary gown.

"Aw man, it's not Jack the Ripper, it's just your cousin going through an awkward teenager stage." Shizu sighed disheartened as Rin started to make her get away, while her cousin had distracted the so called "culprit". She started to feel as disheartened as Shizu had sounded.

* * *

It had been a couple of hours since she had escaped the grasp of Aleister Chambers and she had watched both Sebastian preform a "magic trick" and Ceil disappear along with Aleister in a secluded room in the back of ballroom. Rin now stood with her back against the wall, watching as the guests made their way gracefully around the large floor in front of her, spinning in small circles as they preformed another waltz with their partners. Rin heard herself sigh in sadness; she knew it was stupid to feel this way, it wasn't supposed to be her mission to find Aleister, it was Ceil's, what did it matter that she didn't complete it. No matter how much she tried to tell herself this though, she still felt ashamed with herself; she just wanted to be useful to this family in some way.

"Hey!" Rin heard Shizu shout abruptly.

"What is it?" Rin asked trying to stop herself from crying.

"Why are you crying, stop that, you're not six!" Shizu yelled coldly to Rin, only making her want to cry even more. Shizu did her famous sigh of irritation as she asked,

"Listen princess, what does it matter if you lost, you weren't even in this battle to begin with?"

"I just wanted to be useful to my new family, I wanted my aunt to like me." Rin admitted with a small sob.

"You are useful to them Rin, you helped lure out that creep for your cousin to find, I would have never thought that someone like you would have ever thought of a plan like that, I may actually be rubbing off on you." She started with a small, delighted giggle at the end. "And who cares if that little priss doesn't like you, I like you and that's all that should matter!" Shizu finished sternly, and Rin felt pride take the place of her shamefulness for the moment, she smiled happily as she thanked Shizu.

"Yeah whatever now stop crying, you're making me sick!" Shizu replied trying to sound uncaring, but Rin could tell she was just joking as she started to rub her eyes free of any loose tears. Suddenly, she heard a loud clacking of high-heeled shoes coming closer and looked over to see her maid running towards her. She stopped once she was in front of her nobleman and asked,

"M'lady, why are you here all by yourself, are you okay?" and in response, Rin nodded happily, making Utsuho in return smile as she informed,

"Well, as long as you're okay, now it's time to get going, Sebastian already brought Ceil home and the others are waiting to leave, it is said that the Jack the Ripper case has been solved!" And taking Rin's wrist, she led her to the doorway. Halfway to the doorway however, Utsuho stopped walking making Rin stop as well, she then turned around, her face comforting as she stated,

"Don't worry about what Miss Angela thinks about you M'lady, between you and me, she doesn't seem to be a very nice lady, at least to you, and you are the only one that I care about, therefore, I do not care very much for her." Utsuho was now looking Rin in the eyes as she continued, "There was also no need to hide that plan from me, I trust you M'lady." Rin smiled as she thanked her maid, but she also began to wonder how her maid knew all about these things she had been thinking about, had she told her without remembering. She wondered this the entire way home and hoped Utsuho couldn't hear her.

* * *

"Jack the Ripper strikes again?" Lau read the newspaper heading aloud to the group with surprise. It was heated morning for some, but not Rin. She was still trying to wake herself up, but she could still feel the sleep trying to pull her back. She was dressed in her normal, slightly dark orange dress with large puffy sleeves that straightened as they got to the tip of her wrists. Her hair was straight except for the few curls at the end of some of the strands. Utsuho stood behind her silently as she sat in one of the chairs in the drawing room, watching as the rest of the group started to argue over the newspaper, hoping that the sleep wouldn't win her over.

"So that means the Viscount wasn't our man?" Madame Red asked puzzled. Rin looked over to see her cousin in his chair. He looked down at his lap, his body taut, and his eyes nervous, his skin covered in sweat. Rin felt bad for him, he had done so much to try and solve this case, but it ended up being all in vain. Sebastian stood against the wall to his left, eyeing his master carefully.


	10. Parasite

**Author's Note: Yay, Chapter 10, hopefully this story will get a little more ****interesting. Anyways, same rules apply like always nothing really has changed so yeah...thanks for reading and have a wonderful night/morning! **

**Note: Okay, so this is where Grell appears right, lol spoiler alert, and for those of you who prefer Grell to be known as "She", "Her" please don't hate me for referring to him as a male, it is just my personal writing opinion. Thanks guys and I am eager to start the next chapter so hopefully that will be out real soon, until then though, Ttyl! ^^**

**Edit: Had to edit the ending a bit, there were things I had forgot to add...ooopsies, oh well it should be fixed, enjoy none the less! ^^**

Chapter 10: Parasite.

"This is not a time to be playing chess." Ceil informed his aunt who sat across from him, a small table placed in front of them, holding the said game on top. A smaller, rounder table placed next to Madame Red's chair held a small cup of tea on top of it. Madame Red moved her piece as she asked,

"Working obsessively at it will lead to no good, why not leave everything to Sebastian?" Madame Red was dressed in a long, red dress with puffy white sleeves. She also wore a large, white cravat around her neck that looked like an, open, upside down fan; it was weird to see her without her long, black and red coat on. Rin lay lazily on the couch behind her aunt's chair, her long, dark auburn hair draping off the side. Her hands, one on top of the other, were placed underneath her cheek; her body lay on its side, her eyes fighting to stay open as she tried her best to look over her aunt's chair and at her cousin.

"He's just my chest piece, I'm the one who moves him by giving him orders, but he's not an ordinary chess piece, he can advance as many squares as he likes at once, like this" Ceil replied to his aunt as he reached over the board to Angela's side and with a piece of his, he then knocked one of her's down and his took it's place at the end of the board. Ceil wore his normal, dark green coat with a white shirt underneath, a deep blue ribbon placed around his neck. Rin then heard Madame Red declare in shock,

"That's against the rules!"

"Yes, if this were a game, it would be, but rules have no meaning in this world." Ceil replied ominously, his head resting on his hands lowered a bit, casting a shadow around his eyes, "There are always knights who break the rules, and pawns who betray, if you let your guard down, before you know it…. it's checkmate!" and as he finished, Ceil took another piece from his side, and placed it forcefully on the board in front of his aunt.

* * *

"Revenge won't bring the dead back, and it certainly won't make them happy." Ceil stated grimly as the rain outside continued to tap against the window cogently, as if it were someone wanting and waiting to be let inside.

"But… Madame Red tried to interrupt her nephew, but he interrupted her instead,

"I didn't come back to the house of Phantomhive for my predecessors' sakes, I did it for me." And once he finished, he raised his head to look into his Aunt's eyes, the same angry expression he always wore was there, only this time, it seemed to intensify a bit more. Rin started to wonder what his words could have meant, what did he mean by his "predecessor's"? Now that Rin thought about it, she never did hear anything about Ceil's parents; she only saw pictures of them around the manor, what did happen to his parents?

"I just want to make the people who betrayed and defiled my family suffer the same humiliation and pain I suffered." Rin heard Ceil continue as she was on the verge of falling victim to sleep.

"I still remember the day you were born." Madame Red began to reminisce, lightening the mood a bit; Rin then heard her start to get up and listened closely to her footsteps as well as her voice,

"You were so tiny and so cute, I thought, "I'll have to protect him."" And Rin watched as Madame Red placed her hand gently atop of Ceil's head as she continued,

"I wasn't able to have a child, but I think of you as my own son, I wish you'd leave the under-but before she could finish, Ceil pushed her hand off his head and informed her sternly,

"Being here now is something I wanted, and something I chose, I don't regret it, and I can't let anyone spoil me."

* * *

Once Ceil had gone up to bed and Madame Red had left, Rin decided she should head up to her bed as well. With the help of her maid, she made it all the way up the stairs, and into her temporary new room, it wasn't as large as her room back at the Phantomhive's, but it was still pretty big. She made her way slowly over to her bed, the clean white sheets seemed to lure her in as she lifted them over her body and began to snuggle into them.

"Is there anything else you might need, M'lady?" Utsuho asked, but her tone of voice suggested that she already knew the answer to that question.

"No thanks Utsuho, thank you." Rin mumbled softly.

"Very well, M'lady." She heard Utsuho reply in a hushed voice. Shortly after, she heard the small squeak and click of her bedroom door closing, darkening the room even more till Rin couldn't make out anything around her. The room was now pitch black and quiet, with only the moonlight peeking through the curtains of the small window in front of her, the rain slowing until she could hear nothing but silence. Rin felt the calm of the room take over her body, and she could feel herself start to drift off into sleep.

"Hey!" Rin heard Shizu's voice yell abruptly; making her eyes burst open, all serenity suddenly escaped the room as well as her body as she listened to Shizu's orotund voice,

"You're not going to bed yet princess, I have an experiment I want to try, and it involves you!"

"What is the experiment?" Rin asked sleepily, wondering what time it was.

"Well, you know that pain in your arm you've been feeling?" Shizu asked, and Rin could hear the anticipation in her voice as well as in the quietness that followed as she waited for her to answer.

"Yeah." Rin replied through a yawn.

"Well, you know that so far it only hurt when you near both Grell, and that mortician?" Shizu asked trying her best to keep Rin awake with her enthusiasm.

"Yeah, I guess." Rin answered trying not to sound rude, but the lack of sleep was making her groggy.

"Well, I think they're connected somehow, I mean, that's the only thing that would make sense, right, so what I need from you now is to test this theory of mine." Shizu finished as Rin let out another large yawn.

"How am I going to test this?" Rin asked, her curiosity peeking through her hazy brain. Suddenly, as if to answer her question, she heard the door to Ceil's room open and four pair of footsteps as they made their way quietly from that room past her own and she listened to hear them make their way down the stairs.

"You'll be following those idiots." Shizu replied with a small satisfied laugh.

* * *

"Ceil!" Rin called as quietly but as loudly as she could as not to disturb the others that may have been sleeping in the manor.

"Rin?" Ceil looked over his shoulder in alarm, he was already down the stairs and it looked as if he and Sebastian were all ready to go, but to where, Rin still wasn't sure, but she trusted Shizu and proceeded with the plan,

"Let me come with you!" Rin begged as she made her way down the stairs to meet with her cousin.

"Absolutely not!" Ceil replied firmly, "This is not a place you should be going, now go back to bed!" A large, sudden flash of lightning lit the room for a quick second, revealing to Rin the look of displeasure in her cousin's eyes, a look that sent a slight chill down her spine, but she held her ground. A loud blast of thunder shook the room, causing the sky to weep intensely, its cries becoming louder than the thunder.

"Please Ceil, I may seem weak, but I promise I can handle whatever you throw at me!" Rin promised her hands clenched tightly.

"M'lady, what's going on?" She heard Utsuho's voice ask from behind her. She turned around to see her maid standing halfway up the staircase, her right arm on the railing.

"I…I want to go with Ceil." Rin admitted, her head down, she was unable to look her maid in the eyes. There was a long, awkward pause, but finally her maid spoke, still on the same stair,

"Well, I'm afraid that's not for me to decide M'lady." Rin then looked back at Ceil, who still stood impatiently at the door.

"Fine, you can come, just don't say I didn't warn you." Ceil replied hastily as he and Sebastian started to head out the door.

"Well then, M'lady, I suppose you'll need a coat then, it looks a bit cold out there." Utsuho stated looking out the window into the dark, stormy night.

* * *

They stood against the cold, damp wall of a large brick building at the mouth of a narrow ally way with only a single street lamp to provide them light. Rin huddled in her lightweight; tan colored coat, her bare legs feeling the bite of the cold as she stood with only a light nightgown underneath her coat as well as a pair of fuzzy slippers she had already deemed not as appropriate in this situation, but she felt she was in no position to argue at the moment. Her maid stood on her right and her cousin and his butler at her left. The rain had ceased for the moment, and all that could be heard was the monotone voice of her cousin as he asked,

"He'll show up if we stake out this place, right?" This was the first time Rin had heard him speak since they had been at the manor, the idea that her cousin was upset with her made her uncomfortable and she started to shiver a little.

Yes." She heard Sebastian answer plainly.

"It's true that the murdered prostitutes had other things in common, besides having their organs removed." Ceil started to explain. He was dressed down from usual; he wore a long, white button up shirt with a brown vest on top. A small blue ribbon tied around his neck and a large green hat covered his hair. He wore black shorts and a bandage-like patch on his eye.

"Beautiful, glossy black hair." Sebastian began to remark, as if in a trance.

"But why should he have to kill them?" Ceil asked himself curiously.

"Sinfully lovable." Sebastian commented again.

"And I-Ceil began but was interrupted by another one of Sebastian's hypnotized statements and she watched Ceil start to shake heatedly as he tried to control his anger,

"So soft, yes, so soft."

"Listen to me when I'm talking to you!" Ceil screamed at Sebastian who was now revealed to be holding a single black cat in his hands.

"I apologize, she's a rare beauty." Sebastian affirmed as the cat stayed clinging to his jacket; a single "meow" escaped its lips. An abrupt, shrill scream then resonated through the darkness, turning everyone's attention away from what they were doing so they could look up into the dark, cloudy sky.

"No one could've gotten past us." Ceil commented shockingly confounded.

"Let's go." Sebastian commanded letting go of the cat and the whole group made it's way towards the source of the screaming, Rin's arm hurting more and more the closer they got until it felt like the arm itself was the one that was screaming. They finally made their way in front of a somewhat old, wooden door, Rin stopping to give her arm a rest along with her maid as Ceil and Sebastian made their way towards the door.

"Now, it's time for the big reveal!" Rin heard Shizu remark excitedly through the pain they were both feeling, but it slowly started to disappear until it was nothing more than a slight sting and Rin felt both perplexed and relieved.

"That's weird, why does it suddenly stop?" Shizu mused to herself as Rin started to breathe slow, deep breathes, hoping the pain wouldn't come back anytime soon. Rin looked up to see that her cousin had already opened the mysterious door, and now his butler was behind him, making it hard for Rin to depict what was going on, so she moved a bit closer, her maid at her heels, until she was finally in front of the door. A large splatter of blood as well as an unknown hand reached out from the darkness, the rest was concealed and Rin planned to keep it that way for now. She then heard the faint sound of footsteps making their way out of the pitch-black room, and Rin could feel her heart drop to her throat, her palms started to sweat and she felt as if she were close to nausea.

"That's quite a mess you made, Jack the Ripper." Sebastian started sarcastically as the said "Jack the Ripper" made his way gradually out into the open, and Rin could feel herself take a step back in fear of what he could look like or who he could be.

"Or should I say, Grell Sutcliff?" Sebastian asked as the criminal now stood fully out in the open, the pale moonlight shone down, revealing the features of the man to be that of Grell Sutcliff's. His face as well as his attire was splattered with blood, the darkness still concealing his right side added to the ominous affect of his appearance.

"Grell!" Rin screamed horrified as she tried to convince herself that all she was seeing and all she was hearing was all just a nightmare. She tried running towards him but only to be held back by her maid who had grabbed her arm and held her tight so she wouldn't be able to move. Rin struggled for a few minutes, but finally gave up as she allowed her body to relax to a certain point.

"Y-you have it all wrong!" Grell tried to assure the group in front of him, " I heard the scream and ran over here, but she was…" He trailed off in what seemed like defeat, a small drop of blood trickled from his outfit into a small rain puddle beneath him.

"I think you can stop playing innocent in that body, Grell." Sebastian seemed to assure him, and Rin heard herself start to wonder what he meant by "that body", she felt Shizu start to wonder the same thing.

"This is the first time I've met someone like you in the human world." Sebastian continued to explain as Rin could hear her heart to start to beat loudly in her ears, until it almost seemed to drown out any other noise she was hearing. "You preformed the role of "harmless incompetent butler" quite adeptly" Sebastian finished with a compliment.

"What the heck does that mean?" Shizu asked Rin angrily as if she was the one who knew the answer to that certain question.

"Adeptly?" Grell asked quietly, a single drop of blood dripping down from his eye looking almost like a tear,

"Do you think so?" Grell's voice seemed to louden to a more confident, high-pitched tone that now replaced the beating in Rin's ear; this wasn't the voice of the Grell she knew. Rin watched as he started to rip out his dark red bow and remove his blood stained glasses,

"That's right, I am an actress honey, and I'm absolutely first rate." He stated as she started to comb through his long, dark brown hair turning it into a bright red, "But you're not "Sebastian" either, are you?" Grell asked as he placed fake long, black eyelashes over his real ones, he then started to replace his white, bloody gloves with clean black ones.

"That's the name I received from my young master, so yes, I am, at the moment." Sebastian clarified.

"My, so you're a "Faithful dog" character, though for a fine-looking man like you that's fabulous too." Grell admired as he placed a pair of bright red glasses over his eyes, "Well then, Sebastian, no Sebas-chan, let me introduce myself." Then, brushing a piece of hair out of his face, he proceeded, with his fingers pointed towards his neck in a sort of pose, "I am Grell Sutcliff, butler to the Burnetts, I'm sure we two butlers can get along marvelously~!" He then blew an imaginary kiss in Sebastian's direction, Sebastian in response just stood there clearly disgusted.

"What the heck is this?" Shizu asked angered, and Rin could tell she was getting ready for a fight.

"Ah, I finally get to meet you in my true form, I've never seen a demon playing a butler before, so I was so surprised when I fist saw you!" Grell stated excitedly.

"That's my line, I never imagined someone like you would play a butler." Sebastian marveled not looking as if he shared Grell's same enthusiasm, "Someone who stands neutral between man and God, a Grim Reaper." Rin then heard a noise as if Shizu had just spit something out of her mouth, the next words that came out of her mouth contained more shock than she had ever heard in Shizu's voice before,

"No, that's impossible, that can't be…She trailed off leaving Rin to ask the question,

"What can't be?"

"Maybe I can see this creep being a grim reaper, b…but not that mortician, no way, there has to be something else that connects them to that pain, there has to be!" and at that moment, Rin realized that she had forgotten all about that pain in her arm.

"Why would a divine being such as yourself bother to play a butler?" Sebastian continued to question the reaper.

"Good question, perhaps I should say I fell in love with a certain woman." Grell responded with a smile. Rin felt Shizu tense at his words, then it seemed like all the shock Shizu had just been feeling was now being replaced with pure rage.

"Rin let me out!" Shizu commanded through what sounded like clenched teeth.

"No, I can't Shizu, you're going to kill him!" Rin refused as she felt the rage start to build up in Shizu, her next words she nearly screamed at Rin,

"Darn it Rin, what does it matter, he's going to die anyways even if I don't come out, so what's the point in protecting him anyways!"

"It's just, why do you want to fight him, what did he do?" Rin asked trying to hold back her tears at her friend's harsh words.

"Oh you mean besides _killing twenty-something women_, geez Rin, I thought you had some sort of common sense!" Shizu spat back at her. Rin felt that it was weird though; Shizu didn't usually get this mad about something unjust that happened to someone else, she seemed more like the person who would get mad because of something unjust that had happened to her.

"And that woman would be?" Rin heard Sebastian finish asking.

"You don't need to ask, do you?" Rin heard a familiar voice echo through the dark room in front of her. Rin listened to the soft footsteps that made their way out into the open only to reveal the appearance of Madame Red.

"Madam…." Ceil seemed to trail off. Rin looked over to see that her cousin had removed Sebastian's hand from his one uncovered eye. Madame Red just laughed, closed her eyes and turned her head slightly to the side as she stated,

"I didn't calculate on anyone being able to see Grell for who he truly is." Rin felt Shizu become even angrier, and she was afraid that if she got too angry, she might explode, like a volcano ready to erupt.

"Naturally, you were on the initial suspect list." Ceil informed her plainly after wiping his mouth, "But your alibi was perfect."

"You suspected even your own aunt?" Madame Red asked her nephew innocently.

"If you had the potential to be Jack, any blood relation was irrelevant." Ceil continued to notify her, "None of the humans on the suspect list could have committed all the murders, but if one had an _inhuman _accomplice, that would change everything, if he could enter the room in an instant without our noticing, he could also instantaneously get from Viscount's to the East End, you two are the only ones who could be Jack the Ripper, Madame Red and Grell Sutcliff." Ceil Continued, "Jack the Ripper's victims had other things in common, they all underwent a certain surgery at London Central Hospital where you work, the only patient on the list who hadn't yet been killed was Mary Kelly who lived in that flat." Ceil explained as he took a small folded piece of paper from the inside of his vest, unfolded it and showed it to the group in front of him, "I thought you'd show up here if I kept an eye on the place, I couldn't' save her though…Ceil trailed off in dismay.

"This is unfortunate my beloved nephew Ceil, if you hadn't figured it out we could have stilled played chess together again." Madame Red remarked in sadness. Rin watched as her aunt then clenched her fist tightly and screamed in anger,

"I won't give anything up this time!" she then heard the sound of a loud engine mix with her aunt's scream. The person holding that engine was Grell and he was running straight towards Ceil with the large spinning blade of the machine pointed towards his target, but his blade was stopped short by a larger, unmovable blade.

"Whoa there, you didn't think I was just going to let you have your way did you, no sadly for you, I'm not that kind of person." Shizu stated with a large smirk.

"Who the heck are you?" Grell asked shocked at his new opponent his spinning blade clashing with her newly acquired weapon. The weapon she wielded had a long sleek black handle, which she clenched tightly in her two small fists, and a large silver blade that curved outwards.

"Are you wielding a Death Scythe?" The reaper asked the girl with shock as she held standing her ground, her teeth clenched tightly as she kept her smirk.

"A What?" Shizu asked loudly over the roar of her opponent's weapon.

"Grim reapers possess tools for harvesting souls, he's asking if that's your sickle?" Sebastian informed the girl plainly.

" "Sickle" is such a dull name don't call it that, not after I've customized _mine_ to my personal specifications!" Grell whined removing his weapon from Shizu's, "This is a "Death Scythe" only I can wield and it can hack any being into pieces." Changing his tone Grell continued putting his thumb to his in a small pout, "I've behaved myself so well lately, I"m out of shape now, I want to have some exercise for a change, with you."

"Could I ask you not to say such repugnant things, I am on duty." Sebastian asked trying to hide his disgust.

"How stoic you are, yet another thing that makes you irresistible!" Grell cooed as he waved his death scythe in the air, changing his tone yet again, he continued, "You see, I love the color red, red is my favorite color for hair, clothes and lipstick so I paint those ugly women with pretty pretty red blood, Sebas-chan, I'll make you even finer-looking then you already are, I'm going to tear you up inside and make you red like beautifully scattered rose petals." Grell finished as he held his death scythe out in front of him.

"Eww gross, and not just the fact that you were just hitting on that piece of garbage over there !" -Shizu pointed to Sebastian-,"But also the fact that you could find a color such as horrid as red to be pretty" Shizu spat angrily, "And just an F.Y.I , this is no "death scythe", I'm human you moron, this weapon was given to me by the heavens to take you and your little priss down, and for those who are still curious, my name is Shizu, Shizu Kanjiru!" Shizu finished with a laugh.

"Aww, so are you the parasite who's been living in the little Miss this whole time?" Sebastian asked with a secret smile as Shizu started to become furious, he really had been listening to Rin and her the whole time.

"He really did know about us?" Shizu heard her host ask horrified from inside her head.

"Parasite, what are you talking about Sebastian?" Utsuho asked becoming worried as Sebastian just simply laughed and responded,

"It would seem the little miss is not alone in that head of hers." He paused for a moment. "Although miss Reiuji I believe you can stop acting surprise."


	11. Spider Lilies

**Authors Note: Well, here it is, Chapter 11, hehe...sadly I was not able to get to the part I wanted to, but I'm kind of glad I decided to quit when I did. For those of you who have been eagerly awaiting this chapter, I hope you have some time on your hands because this ones a long one! I think this is the longest one so far, it also has no breaks so...Anyways, thanks for those who do read it, I hope you enjoy it! ^^**

Chapter 11: Spider Lilies

"What does he mean, Shizu, why would Utsuho know about you?" Rin asked, her question trying to push Shizu to answer, Shizu only responded with,

"Well, I think that theory you had earlier about her not being human was actually not just your paranoia."

"What?!" Rin asked disturbed but this question did not have an answer at that moment as both Utsuho and Shizu remained silent.

"A grim reaper quietly harvests the souls of the dying." Sebastian started as he turned his attention back towards Grell who now looked to be pouting again, "A butler subserviently follows his master like a shadow." Sebastian then placed his long, black top coat over his said master's head, his master in return giving him a confused but mean look, he then turned around to face Grell once again as he continued, "Your vulgarity violates the aesthetics of both, and quite frankly, I find it sickening."

"Oh Sebas-chan, you wound me, I'm a more deadly efficient butler than I look!" Grell stated as he posed with his tongue out and his right hand making the "I love you" sign as it hovered over the right side of his face.

"In my own black name and that of the Queen's, I order you, put an end to them!" Ceil ordered who Shizu assumed to be his butler as he lifted his makeshift eye patch to reveal his usually concealed eye. This eye did not look to have the same qualities as his other eye, instead it had a light purple pentagon-like shape inside the pupil with strange star like patterns all around the inside of the iris that seemed to surround the pupil. The entire symbol started to glow brilliantly at the end of his command.

"What's wrong with Ceil's eye?" Shizu heard Rin ask terrified, but Shizu stayed silent for she did not have an answer to that question and secretly wished Rin would stop asking her all these questions.

"Yes, M'lord." She heard Sebastian reply from in front of her.

"Yeah, you don't have to tell me twice!" Shizu responded to the command that was not directed towards her. She then started hastily forward before the arm Sebastian held out in front of her stopped her.

"What's the big idea, you demonic trash?" Shizu asked her teeth tightened in anger.

"I'm afraid I cannot let a lady fight this battle." Sebastian replied still trying to act like a gentleman, his face turned slightly to look at her, the outside of his dusty red eye seem to take bits of the small black slit in the middle that served as his pupil.

"Aww that's cute, now let me pass!" Shizu commanded her eyes lowering and her face turning to a scowl.

"I'm afraid I cannot, miss Kanjiru." Sebastian replied as a matter of fact.

"Aww Sebas-chan, are you protecting me?" Grell asked happily.

"Aww, enough of this!" Shizu hissed as she took her arm, swung it and punched Sebastian in his side, sending him against the brick wall a few feet to the left of her, causing a slight crack in the exterior. Everyone stood stunned for a moment, even Rin who sat in total silence in the depths of her new host's mind.

"Now it's your turn!" Shizu declared setting her sights on Grell, she then proceeded to run towards him like she had originally planned in the first place, her blade in front of her. Grell in turn held his death scythe up in front of him to block her, and they stood blade to blade for a few minutes, enough time for Grell to ask,

"If you're not a reaper, where did you get that blade, only reapers are allowed blades like that!"

"Not true!" Shizu retorted as she shot Grell backwards and into another brick building in front of her, his impact causing a larger amount of damage to the building than Sebastian's.

"Had enough buddy?" Shizu called tauntingly as she held her weapon out to her side, it's blade reflecting the silver moonlight. Grell in response to her taunt started to slowly make his way out of the little whole his impact had made for him, bits of debris falling from his shoulders.

"Shizu, you hurt him!" Rin screamed anxiously from inside Shizu's head.

"Eh, he's fine, he just has to shake it off, he'll be back!" Shizu assured her host as she stood battle ready for Grell's next attack, her body slightly lowered and her blade out in front in front of her. She watched as Grell suddenly disappeared from his current position and then reappeared in front of her, his spinning blade out in front of her.

"I don't care who you are, I will make sure I paint your body a pretty shade of red!" He declared as he came at her, and she scoffed,

"Gross, I rather kiss that-but before she could finish, the man mentioned in her unfinished sentence appeared before her, his body showing no signs of scratches or tatters from his impact, unlike Grell. He had his back to her, and held his arms out in front of the two, as if they were two children misbehaving on the playground.

"You just don't quit, do you?" Shizu asked irritated.

"I'm afraid first statement still stands, miss Kanjiru." Sebastian responded as he looked over his shoulder to glare at her.

"Geez, sexist much!" She screamed at him just before looking over her shoulders to check out the scene behind her. Madame Red stood in front of her small, cowering nephew holding a knife out in front of her. Shizu smirked,

"Geez, what happened to being that "one hell of a butler", you can't even protect your own master when he's being traumatized by his own aunt." But by now, Sebastian was pinned against a wall trying to keep Grell from cutting his arm off, Grell's blade digging into the brick wall behind him, inches from Sebastian's arm, the loud roar of it's engine echoing through the alleyway.

"It's so much more stimulating when it hurts, isn't it?" She heard Grell state sadistically.

"Keep it PG guys!" Shizu shouted back at them as she proceeded to walk towards the group of Madame Red and Ceil, At closer look, it seemed as though Madame Red had already cut a tear in his arm, the small, blood stained tear in his sleeve made it obvious. She now pressed him against a wall, gripping his small, delicate throat tightly in her hand.

"Shizu, save him! Rin pleaded as Shizu stood in front of the group and watched for a few minutes,

"Yeah, yeah alright" Shizu replied with a confident smile, "Hey, Priss, get your hands off that boy if you don't want to get hurt, You saw what I did to that demon trash and that crazy boyfriend of yours, and don't think I won't do that to you, unlike that demon, I am not sexist!"

"You!" Madame Red turned to look at her, her deep red eyes burning with hate," Get out of here, this is a family matter."

"Afraid not honey, I may not be part of this crazy family, but I have someone here with me that is, and she kind of wants that family back, or what's left of it anyways." Shizu demanded for Rin who stood still inside her mind, waiting for Madame Red to answer,

"Huh, you think I care about her, as far as I am concerned, she's not even part of this family, heck I barely know the first thing about her, for all I care, she's a nobody, you as well, now get out of my site!" Madame Red hissed as she turned back towards Ceil who stood breathless in his aunt's grip.

"What did you just say?!" Shizu screamed as she felt Rin's heart start to sink. She then picked up her blade and tried to cut Madame Red, but Madame Red ended up dodging her almost inevitable death, dropping the boy, she came at Shizu who stood frozen for a moment giving Madame Red the opportunity to stab her hard in the shoulder, Shizu screamed in pain.

"Huh, you think I didn't see you trying to pull something like that, now like I said before, get out of my site!" Madame Red laughed as she kicked Shizu to the ground, her delicate nightdress becoming soaked in leftover rainwater and blood.

"Crap, Why didn't I see that coming!" Shizu spat as she held her hand over her open wound, as she did so, she could feel it slowly start to close and the pain started to lessen ever so gradually, but she wanted to keep this from Madame Red and the rest. She looked around slowly and noticed that someone was missing from the group, that someone being Rin's maid.

"That's odd." Shizu mused to herself, "Where'd she go?"

"You and that little cousin of yours should have never been born!" She heard Madame Red's scream pierce through her ears.

"Young Master!" She then heard Sebastian yell from over the noise of the blade next to him. There was then a large splatter of blood and the noise of Ceil's voice screaming,

"Stop, Sebastian, don't kill her!" She heard next what sounded like metal fall to the ground and turned to see Sebastian standing next to Madame Red, in front of his master, He panted heavily as he looked to be in agony.

"Sebastian…" Ceil trailed off as he stared at his unusually wounded butler.

"Oh Sebas-chan, you've got backbone" Grell laughed as Shizu heard him take his blade from the building it was stuck in, "To think you'd sacrifice an arm to go save that kid, but how poorly you compare, Madam!" She then watched as he started walking towards them,

"Hurry up and kill that brat!" Grell commanded hastily and when Shizu looked back at Madame Red, she could see she was not acting on Grell's command, but instead, it sounded like she was crying,

"I loved my sister, I loved him, I loved their…." Her words faded out, "I can't, I can't do it after all, I can't kill him." she then replied in a mumble.

"You're saying that now, you've sliced so many women to bits?" Grell pointed out, "If you don't erase him, he'll erase you!"

"Madam…" Ceil trailed off ignoring Grell,

"But, but..." Her words faded again, "This boy is my—" those words ended up being her last as Grell took his blade and placed its spinning end inside her chest.

"Holy Crap!" Shizu screamed from within her head as she heard Rin go silent with fear. Shizu looked around to see everyone else's eyes widen in horror along with hers.

"I'm disappointed in you Madame Red, I have no interest in you if you are just another woman!" Grell explained angrily as he threw Madame Red's body to the ground as if it were nothing but a broken, used up piece of trash he no longer had need for. Suddenly, a burst of light shone through the alleyway and Shizu could clearly see what look like little video film tapes coming out from inside Madame Red's body, each seeming to contain it's own little part of a video.

"What is this?" Rin asked Shizu, but Shizu didn't respond, instead, she let Grell do it instead,

"Our part as grim reapers is to replay and examine the memories of those on the "To-Die list" distributed by the Powers that Be." Grell started to explain as streams of video started to flow around both Shizu and Sebastian, "We determine what kind of person they were, what kind of life they lived, whether they should be killed of left alive."

"In other words, you make their life flash before their eyes." Sebastian tried to simplify Grell's explanation.

"Ugh, don't call it something so dull, this is the grim reaper's true ability: dramatic pain, this is a Cinematic Record!" Grell finished as he held up his blade,

"Yeah, I think you already covered the "dramatic" part." Shizu laughed feeling back to her old self.

"Wait, you can see all of this?" Grell asked in shock.

"Oh no, I was just staring awfully at your hairline because I wanted to get a better view, of course I can see this!" Shizu screamed sarcastically, Grell's face tightened and he spat back at her,

"Rude, there is no way you can be a normal human being, human's are not allowed to see the Cinematic Record of another human being!"

"Well, maybe I'm special." Shizu suggested with a shrug before everyone went silent to watch the show that was now playing in front of them. The clips the story was presented on were a little washed out, but Shizu could still make out the colors in them. The story was about a young girl name Angelina and her sister Rachel, Shizu assumed that Angelina was Madame Red given her obvious red hair, but she had no idea who Rachel was supposed to be. Rachel was blonde and if she looked closely, Shizu thought she had bright blue eyes, almost similar to Ceil's. Rachel was taller than Angelina by a few inches and very attractive. Angelina on the other hand came off as short and very shy. The two young girls were presented to a man named Lord Phantomhive.

"Oh, I see where this is going." Shizu groaned at the obvious plot.

Angelina was obviously in love with this Lord Phantomhive by the way her face lit up when he smiled at her.

"I hated the hair I inherited from my father." She heard the voice of what sounded like Madame Red resound through her ears.

"Well, I would too, red is such an ugly color." Shizu commented as if she were talking to that voice of Madame Red's. She then heard the voice of Lord Phantomhive compliment "An's" saying "her hair was like the color of spider lilies that blazed the earth". Angelina then started to explain how she came to love her red hair as well as the color and how she came to love the man who had complimented her. The picture then changed to show Rachel and Lord Phantomhive sitting in the same mini couch Lord Phantomhive had been sitting in when he was first introduced to the girls. It showed Madame Red standing in front of them, the same place she stood when she had met Lord Phantomhive, but this time, her sister was not with her and she was alone wearing only the mask of a fake smile to hide her grief. The video changed to show Rachel and Lord Phantomhive at their marriage ceremony and Angelina in the back clearly highlighted in the color she loved so much, which she then ended up stating she hated again, but she couldn't bring herself to hate her sister or her new husband. Angelina then continued to explain that she married a man she had met at a soiree and she ended up getting pregnant, only to end up losing both her husband and her unborn child in a carriage accident. The scene then changed to show her in another carriage and heading for an unknown destination. Madame Red then jerked forward as the carriage came to a sudden stop. The scene then showed her exiting the carriage before looking up. Her eyes widen and her mouth hung open in horror as bright red sparks danced around her. The scene then showed a large mansion enveloped in a deadly flame.

"Hey doesn't that kind of look like…? Shizu began to ask.

"The Phantomhive Manor?" Rin gulped finishing her question as the scene switched out to show a funeral service that, as Shizu listened, it ended up being for both Rachel and Lord Phantomhive.

"Does that mean Ceil's parent's…. died in a fire…. at the manor?" Rin dragged out the inevitable question.

"I…I guess, but then how is the manor still there?" Shizu asked but again no one had an answer to that question. The scene changed again to show Madame Red at her job, sitting at a rather large desk that stood against a wall with a sign above her head. A woman, who Shizu assumed worked as a prostitute, stood in front of her,

" A kid would only get in the way, I don't know who the father is, and I can't take customers with a kid in tow." The woman explained unbeknownst to Madame Red's feelings. Madame Red then looked down slightly; the glare in her glasses obscured her eyes, her mouth a small frown. The scene then showed Madame Red at a large sink washing her hands, water stained with blood was flowing from her hands to the drain next to her, the mirror in front of her showed her reflection, the only thing that could not be seen in that reflection were her eyes as they were covered in a large shadow. The scene then closed in on her eyes as they were reflected in the mirror. Her eyes were shown to be as dark and cold as the shadow that enveloped them, so cold it made the mirror in front of her crack causing a split between her eyes. The next scene showed the viewer gradually closing in on the same woman from earlier, by the way they walked, they seemed to be rather angry and they may even have been holding a weapon. By the use of darker grays, even black tones in the video suggested that the scene took place at night or perhaps even past midnight. The woman was shown to be entering what one would most likely assume to be her home, she is about to open a pretty sizable, old wooden door when she stops and turns her head slightly to look at the viewer,

"Oh, you're that woman from-" She remarks casually but cuts herself off, and when the viewer continues to move towards her, she turns around to look at them, her eyes widen in fear,

"What are you doing?" she asks them anxiously as she looked down, and the viewer moves in even closer,

"St…stop!" her voice can be heard screaming as the viewer was running at her. The scene changed to an upward view of the possible same alleyway everyone else at the present moment may have been standing in. A large splatter of blood then fills the viewers screen as Madame Red's voice can be heard stating,

"I'll stain everything red with my own hands." The blood disappears and what is assumed to be the blood stained hand of her current victim is shown lying fingers curled on the street of the alleyway. It then shows Madame Red looking away from the viewer and down at her assumed to be first victim, the edge of her black coat tainted with blood.

"Goodness me, you really went to town on her!" Marveled a familiar voice, startled, Madame Red looked up; her face seemed to be tainted with blood as well. The scene altered views and showed the silhouette of a person on top of one of the tall, pointed towers of London, the moon behind them a light red splattered with spots of darker red that served as the craters. The scene closed in on the figure to reveal it to be none other than Grell Sutcliff and Madame Red's voice could be heard once again,

"A blood red reaper smiled at me." At the end of her statement, the scene changed and Madame Red could be seen over a bucket filled with water and in that water was the reflection of her face, a look of shock seemed to display itself on it, strands of, what was assumed to be her hair, littered the floor around her.

"A few month later, my missing nephew suddenly came back." Madame Red could be heard explaining as more strands of her hair fell into the water causing ripples to run across her reflection, the scene changed yet again.

"Ceil!" Madame Red screamed as she ran through the doors that led to the room where her said nephew was waiting, he was shown to be sitting solemnly in a chair in front of a large table, his dead, uncovered eye was staring straight at her, the familiar figure of Sebastian was shown to be standing at his left. Madame Red's face changed from terrified to relieved as she replied,

"So you're safe." She then ran over and embraced Ceil who didn't bother to stand up from his chair to greet his aunt; she held his face close to her shoulder as she stated happily,

"Thank goodness, you're safe at least." She then pulled away and taking his head in both of her hands she positioned it so that he would look directly at her, she replied,

"Let me get a good look at your face." The scene than switched faces so now the viewers were looking into Ceil's cold, empty unconcealed eye, his mouth but a small downward sliver. The scene changed again to show a large, elegantly set table set up inside the Phantomhive's garden, red roses could be seen around the corner of the scene slightly obscuring the view. There sat Ceil and Lizzie as well as Madame Red and they all seemed to be having somewhat of a tea party as their the servants stood around the table and observed their little get together. They closed in on Madame Red taking a tiny sip of tea from her small teacup, holding the saucer it was placed on underneath it. The look that was portrayed on her face was a look of both sadness and somewhat confusion as she was explaining to the viewers why only Ceil had come back and not _him._ The scene shifted to show Madame Red and Grell hovering over another victim, Madame Red almost exactly the same except for the blood that marked her face, and Grell was in the back behind her with his butler attire on and his hair tied back, but with the glare that obscured his glasses and his sharp, pointed teeth barred in his smile as well as the large blade he hung over his shoulder, he looked like a mixture of both human and reaper Grell. The scene then quickly changed to a more recent, angrier picture of Ceil as Madame Red was explaining she would not let anything be taken from her this time, then changing for the very last time to the most recent scene of Madame Red screaming angrily,

"I won't give anything up!" The scene then faded out and Shizu continued to sit there in awe.

"Wow, I wonder how much the box office was paid for that?" Shizu wondered jokingly after a few minutes of silence, she then proceeded to laugh humorlessly; she then heard the disturbing _thump_ of Madame Red's body as it hit the cold, wet ground next to her.

"I loved you when you were dyed crimson with your victims' blood, Madame Red." She heard the voice of Grell state, his voice being the trigger to releasing her earlier bottled up anger. She didn't know why, but she was ticked at him, not because she really felt bad for Madame Red, she didn't really like that woman anyways, no, she felt it was a bit more personal than that,

"I'm disappointed you turned out to be such a trite woman!" Grell continued as she heard his footsteps coming closer to her, "You don't have what it takes to wear red." She turned around to watch as Grell removed the coat that Madame Red's corpse had been wearing and was now placing it on his own shoulder,

"Your cheap little melodrama ends now."

"Why you little-" Shizu hissed through clenched teeth before she could feel the cold metal of Grell's blade behind her, she spun herself around to see that Grell had it pointed directly at her and looked up to vaguely see the expression on his face was a cold, spiteful glare, his greenish-yellow eyes reflecting some of the light of the moon making the only thing really visible on his face,

"You." He began, "I don't know who you are but I think it's best you don't exist in this world." He then started up his spinning blade, the sound of the engine resounding through Shizu's head,

"Crap, this isn't good!" Shizu thought as she froze in her place, she wasn't really used to not having a plan, but at this moment, she did not have one and that frightened her more than anything.

"Grell, stop!" Rin and Ceil screamed simultaneously as Grell lowered his blade to Shizu's chest.

"That's enough!" A voice pierced through the obnoxious roar of the engine. Everyone turned to look to see a figure perched on the flat rooftops of one of the large buildings that surrounded them. As the light got closer to the figure, its features were showed to be that of Rin's maid, Utsuho Reiuji, though this time, she was dressed completely differently. She now wore a bright white puffy sleeved shirt with a large dark red orb in the middle of her chest and at closer glance, it looked to be almost like an eye. A long green skirt went down to her knees with black boots underneath, and on her left leg, she wore a large metal piece that went up to a little bit above her ankle, almost like another boot. A large, flowing ribbon was place atop her glossy black hair and seemed to be the same color as her skirt. One of the striking things about her was that now, she seemed to have grown large black wings that seemed to be draped in cloth that showed white at the top of her wings and the part that draped down below her feathers seemed to reflect the galaxy. The other striking thing about her was that her left arm seemed to have transformed into this large, orange colored cannon, that cannon was now being directed at Grell.

"Now drop your weapon, or I will be forced to shoot." She commanded sternly, all three of her eyes now burning with her target's favorite color.

**A little Bit of background on:**

**Shizu Kanjiru: Shizu, being the complete opposite of Rin, confident, violent and seems to have a knack for knowing when ****something big is about to happen. Shizu does not take orders from anyone unless she feels she can trust them. She has incredible strength and can take out both demon and reaper no problem. It is not yet known if Shizu has her own body or not, it is also not yet known if Shizu is really a human. She also despises the color red. **

**Song I feel most likely compliments her: Novocaine by: Fall Out Boy **


	12. Miss Shizu

**Author's Note: Here's Chapter 12 now, yay, and I'm sorry to say, this is probably about if not as long as the last chapter so like I mentioned before, if you desperately want to read this chapter, I hope you have some time on your hands. I should probably note that the rest of my chapters may be as long so...**

**Also, if you haven't already noticed, I tend to either call Grell's 'death scythe' a blade or a weapon only because I don't think they know what a chainsaw is, at least in that time, but I could always be wrong...teehee...**

**Thank you so much for viewing and have a wonderful afternoon/evening! -^^-**

Chapter 12: Miss Shizu

"Drop your weapon now!" Utsuho commanded, anger burning heavily through her words, her eyes a blazing red.

"Utsuho, stop, this isn't you!" Rin pleaded seemingly unbeknownst to her maid as Shizu stared directly into the large weapon Utsuho aimed at Grell.

"Why should I?" Grell asked taunting the already angered woman, his weapon had ceased it's intolerable roaring as he turned from Shizu only to look into the weapon Utsuho held out for him.

"This is why!" Shizu thought she heard Utsuho hiss before she held up were weapon towards the sky, large, gray clouds started to encircle the atmosphere around it as the tip of her weapon started to glow radiantly, the wind seemed to pick up from around her as Shizu watched her clothes as well as her hair start to sway heavily in the breeze. The glow at its tip continued to grow larger and larger until a massive, shining sphere stuck out form its mouth, and she then proceeded to bring her weapon slowly back down towards its original target.

"Crap, if that hits _us_ we are done for!" Shizu pointed out to Rin who she got no clear response from. Then, without warning, Utsuho fired her weapon and the large ball of light came hurdling towards them. Shizu closed her eyes tightly, so tightly she was afraid her eyelids would tear, but no amount of false darkness could hide this blinding light. A massive explosion sounded form next to her and sent her flying a few feet into a building, her body aching terribly once the commotion had stopped. She looked next to her on her right to see Grell had also been blown backwards by the sheer power of Utsuho's. She then looked to her left to see the group of both Sebastian and Ceil, their eyes wide in both amazement and shock. Shizu looked down at her legs that were now covered heavily in scratches, her bright white nightgown was now singed black at the end, and bits of it were crumbling away, exposing her bare skin. She felt blood drip from her mouth and she quickly swiped it away with her arm. She looked a little ways in front of her to see a massive hole in the ground; it looked to be as black as the end of her nightgown, steam gradually escaping from the edges.

"Rin now would be a great time to do that little healing thing you do." Shizu suggested to her host, but got no response in return, "Geez." Shizu grumbled as she started to get up, her whole body aching.

"This is nothing, c'mon body don't be a big baby!" She assured herself as she started to make her way out of her own little mess of debris. She watched as Grell had already made his way out and was now starting to walk away from the rest of them, his body, from what she could see of it anyways, didn't seem burnt at all, just a few tatters in his clothing.

"Wow, it's like she meant to hit _me_!" Shizu complained to herself as she looked up to the rooftop Utsuho had been standing on earlier and noticed she was no longer there, she looked around to see if she could find her, but no one resembling Rin's maid could be seen around her, "Geez, the servants are lacking lately."

"What are you doing, Sebastian?" Shizu heard Ceil ask his butler, "I told you to put an end to Jack the Ripper, it's not over yet." She then heard the sound of Grell's footsteps stop short, "Don't dawdle, hurry up and kill the other one!"

"Very good, My Lord." Shizu heard Sebastian respond to Ceil's command.

"I was going to be nice and let you go, but if you insist." She heard Grell laugh before starting up his blade once again, "I'll send you both to heaven!" He then swung his weapon at Sebastian, only to have Sebastian dodge his attack,

"Heaven, heaven and I are strangers." Sebastian responded as he leaped into the air behind Grell ready to attack, Grell then turned his body around to look at him,

"Yeah, I'll say!" Shizu smirked as she started to get up, she watched happily as Sebastian made a kick for Grell's face, but to her dismay, Grell dodged Sebastian's attack.

"You just went after a lady's face, you're a fiend!" Grell stated pointing his weapon at Sebastian.

"Of course, you see, I am merely one hell of a butler." Sebastian pointed out to the reaper,

"Do you think a demon can defeat a divine being?" Grell then asked his opponent as he held his weapon out to his side,

"Of course not!" Shizu answered the question instead as she came behind Grell, swung her leg out, and kicked him against the wall behind Sebastian, causing him to create another dent in one of the other buildings, "That's why they've got me!"

"Miss Kanjiru." Sebastian sighed clearly irritated.

"What, just because this is the 18th century doesn't mean woman can't beat up other guys?" Shizu asked the demon as they both watched Grell make his way out of the debris the building had gladly provided him with upon his crash.

"Even Demons and little brats like you cease to exist if I reap them with my death scythe, aren't you afraid? "Grell asked as he started to casually dust off the rest of the debris that decided to cling to his shoulders after the rest had fallen off.

"Heh, you can have the demon, but I ain't going nowhere buddy!" Shizu laughed as her own blade appeared within her grasp.

"No, not in the least." Sebastian responded calmly ignoring Shizu's loud, hasty outburst,

"I belong to my master body and soul, even down to the last hair on my head, as long as the contract is in effect, I follow his orders, that's the butler's aesthetic you see."

"Yeah, yeah whatever, let's just do this!" Shizu yelled in excitement holding her large blade out in front of her, her usual smirk making a reappearance on her lips.

Grell continued to come at both Shizu and Sebastian with his blade, both managing to dodge it without a problem. Shizu felt her heart beating in her chest; a large smile stretched her lips as she continued to dodge Grell's attacks. Shizu felt as if she had never been this excited in her life, she felt like a caged dog who's owners had taken them to a large field to run free, she felt alive!

"A Demon and A Reaper. " Grell started as he was focusing his attention on Sebastian, Shizu waited impatiently for him to pay attention to her as she watched Sebastian come in for another kick to Grell's face as his target ducked and leaped into the air,

"I suppose a meeting of the minds is impossible!" Grell continued as Sebastian too leaped into the air to try to catch the reaper, "Our feelings for each other are forbidden, it's like the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet!"

"Wow, okay!" Shizu sighed as she became more and more impatient to join their fight, her fist clenched tightly in anger.

"O Sebas-chan, Sebas-chan, wherefore art thou Sebas-chan?" Grell asked dramatically as he held hand over his chest.

"I don't know about Sebastian, but here's my foot!" Shizu replied as she kicked Grell in the face with her foot sending him crashing down to the pavement below, it was at that moment that Shizu realized she was floating as well,

"Well this is awkward." Shizu commented as she made her way back to the ground. Once she could feel her feet touch the cold, wet earth, she then looked over to see that Grell had reappeared on top of the building behind her as well as Sebastian and now both demon and reaper were facing each other.

"Hey, stop spawning you too, I am only limited to so much movement!" Shizu complained angrily.

"If you'd refuse that appalling name your master gave you, and focus on me alone." Grell suggested as his words trailed off.

"Yeah, how about you two focus on me instead!" Shizu called out but the two on the rooftop didn't seem to acknowledge her.

"From the moment my master called me "Sebastian", that word became my new baptism and contract, I've been Sebastian since that day, by yonder moon I swear it." Shizu heard Sebastian state to Grell as she huffed in frustration.

"What an insincere man you are, to swear by the inconstant moon." Grell started As Shizu got closer to the bottom of the building that held the rooftop where the two inhuman men stood seeming to forget all about the only other live female presence that stood below them, "Your eyes are impure eyes which love no one, you are a devil who profanes innocent souls with your unworthy hands and lips." Grell Continued as Shizu finally found herself on top of the rooftop as well,

"Whoa, okay, how did I manage to do that?" She asked herself as she stared down at the hand not holding her blade and longed for someone to explain what was going on.

"Oh it's so good, you thrill me Sebastian, I feel as if I could bear your children!" She heard Grell 's words break through her thoughts and she felt herself become nauseated.

"Whoa, yeah okay, that's not something I wanted to hear!" Shizu stated loudly as she looked up from her hand.

"Please stop, that's repellant." Sebastian begged silently.

"Oh, you're so cold." Grell remarked as he lowered his body a bit, enveloping it all in shadow. He then brought his blade back to life as he came running towards Sebastian.

"Beautiful Tyrant!" Grell commented as Sebastian dodged another of his attacks by leaping over the spinning blade Grell swung at him.

"Fiend angelica!" He continued to compliment Sebastian with every swing he took.

"Dove-feathered raven!" and at this last remark, Sebastian went in for a swing of Grell's face, but Grell managed to dodge his swing as well, and as he dug his blade into the ground, Sebastian put one foot on its handle as Grell's hands still remained attached to it. Now they were both facing each other yet again, Sebastian making himself taller than Grell. Shizu stood in the background and watched; she felt intervening now would just be bothersome, she let her blade disappear into thin air and she felt all excitement she had been feeling earlier drain from her body, the dog had been taken back to its cage.

"Oh, Sebas-chan, would that morning should never come!" Grell started still holding on to his blade's end, "Then the two of us could stay in love like this forever!" He then brought his head up closer to Sebastian as he finished, "But our amorous adventure ends now." And with a wink he deliberately slammed his head into Sebastian's making him lose his balance slightly, a small trickle of blood fleeing from their crash.

"We part with a passionate kiss, a thousand times, a million times good night!" Grell declared as Shizu stood with a scowl, how was that a kiss? Shizu then watched as Grell took his blade and swung it once again, but this time, it actually hit its target. Blood came flowing from Sebastian's body as Grell's blade made its way downward.

"Now, show me a drastic and dramatic Record!" Grell commanded as he removed his blade from Sebastian's body,

"That's crazy, there is no way that demon is…."But Shizu stopped herself as she watched the cinematic record come forth from Sebastian's body, she heard Grell giggle excitedly as they both waited for something to appear. Finally, something appeared on the tapes, but it wasn't really what both were expecting it to be. First, was a picture of Tanaka sitting in his usual spot drinking tea, she watched as Grell stood silent, clearly disappointed and she felt herself giggle slightly, the next was a picture of Sebastian standing in a familiar hallway of the manor as the servants ran frantically about, they looked to be in some sort of panic, she then heard a noise that sounded like a laugh escape Sebastian's mouth,

"That's been my everyday life for the past year after all." Sebastian stated with a smile, blood dripped from his lips.

"I'm not interested in a domestic Record like this!" Grell screamed frustrated, "Come on, show me the good parts!"

"I'm afraid I charge admission to view the rest." Sebastian remarked as he appeared suddenly behind Grell again.

"Skin flint!" Grell yelled at Sebastian as Sebastian went in for another kick this time, he did not miss and he sent Grell flying to the other end of their rooftop. Sebastian stood in front of Grell now, wiping his lips on his sleeve as he started to complain,

"Oh no, my clothes are ruined again, this is past mending."

"You are pretty confident, worrying about your clothes at a time like this." Grell remarked as she stood up, his blade out in front of him, " But I like a man who's careful about his appearance, Sebas-Chan!" Sebastian then started to remove his topcoat, slinging it over his shoulder as he held his eyes closed and he began ominously,

"This is one technique I did not want to use, but there is no help for it."

"So you're finally going to get serious with me, then?" Grell asked as he prepared his blade for battle, "Shall we close the curtain on this with the next blow, say farewell to this world, let's be joined in the hereafter, Sebas-chan." They both then leaped into the air, Grell with his weapon and Sebastian with nothing but his coat. Grell swung his blade, and by the look on his face, he seemed pretty confident that he would win this battle, Shizu wasn't quite sure though as the watched the two of them in the light of the moon. Suddenly, she heard an unusual screeching noise come from Grell's weapon, she held her hands against her ears to block the noise as she looked up to see that Sebastian had placed his tailcoat inside Grell's weapon.

"Well, I guess that's one way of doing things." Shizu remarked as she kept her hands over her ears and watched as Sebastian landed with ease back on the rooftop and Grell fell suddenly clutching his weapon.

"What?!" He screamed as he looked up at Sebastian.

"That tailcoat is made of high quality Yorkshire wool." Sebastian began to explain as he looked down on Grell, his eyes cold, "Wool has one of the highest frictional forces of all cloth." Sebastian continued as Shizu watched Grell try to tear the tattered coat from his weapon, but he seemed to have no success, "Once it gets enmeshed in something, its very difficult to remove."

"What the heck?!" Grell screamed as he continued to pull.

"That coat was supplied to me by the estate, and I didn't want to use it, but you had ruined it already after all." Sebastian commented as he held his hand towards his forehead in irritation and Grell continued to pull at the fabric stuck in the weapon. He then stopped his pulling to turn around and face Sebastian who stood right behind him, his face an eerily happy smile.

"Now, in a normal fistfight, I feel a certain amount of confidence, don't you miss Kanjiru?" Sebastian asked motioning to Shizu and Shizu felt her smirk come back as she replied in a mocking tone,

"Aww Sebastian, and here I thought you had forgotten about me!" She paused for a slight laugh, "Yeah I do!" and she walked over to stand next to Sebastian.

"W…wait, please not the face!" Grell pleaded helplessly as Sebastian and Shizu turned to look at each other and grin, they then turned back to look at Grell and proceeded with their attack, hitting nothing but his face, his screams and pleads were now the only thing to be heard on that night, and through the commotion, Shizu could feel Rin start to stir again. Both Shizu and Sebastian then went in for one final blow and watched as Grell proceeded to fall off the building. Shizu then noticed that his landing target looked oddly enough to be Ceil who sat next to his aunt's corpse. She then looked over to see that Sebastian had disappeared and was now on the ground as he gave Grell one last kick sending him flying, his face scraping the pavement as his body came to a halt.

"Please excuse me, I misjudged the distance." Sebastian apologized to Ceil as he came to stand next to his him, Grell's weapon landing a few feet next to him, its end wedged in the pavement.

"That was fun!" Shizu commented from atop the rooftop that only she stood on now.

"You look awful." She heard Ceil tell his butler who indeed did look awful.

"I had a bit of trouble with him." Sebastian stated plainly as Shizu jumped down from the rooftop to join the rest of her group.

"I'll get you for this." Shizu turned to hear Grell weakly promise.

"No, you really won't." Shizu stated with a shrug.

"Oh dear, I suppose one can't kill a grim reaper with bare fists." Sebastian remarked grimly.

"Kill?!" She heard Rin scream from inside her head.

"There you are, where were you?" Shizu asked her host, angered at her disappearance and the fact that her body still wasn't completely healed.

"I…. I…." But Rin couldn't seem to get the words out and Shizu sighed in both defeat and irritation as she watched Sebastian pick up Grell's weapon from the ground it had stuck itself in.

"What's he going to do with that?" Rin asked nervously.

"Rin relax, it's going to be okay, we are going to get our revenge!" Shizu tried assuring her host, but Rin didn't seem to be feeling the same spirit she was, her next scream made it obvious

"He's going to kill him!"

"Rin, calm down, it's going to be okay." Shizu repeated calmly as she felt her host start to hyperventilate and as Sebastian made his way towards Grell's almost lifeless body with his precious "death scythe", she thought she heard Rin start to cry. She watched as Grell struggled to get up and then looked over to see Sebastian easily rip out his own tailcoat from the weapon as he continued to walk over to Grell, a large grin could be seen on his face.

"Shizu, stop him!" Rin commanded desperately through fast breaths, but this time, Shizu did not act on her host's command, instead she stated evenly,

"Rin, I think it's better this way, you saw what he did to your aunt, and like he told her, if you don't erase him, he'll erase you." And they both watched in silence as Sebastian held Grell's face down with his foot, Grell's blade in front of him and she could still hear her host crying, but she did her best not to give into it.

"Be strong, Rin." She whispered to her as Sebastian continued to toy with Grell's helpless body.

"I don't enjoy being kicked, but doing the kicking is rather nice." She heard Sebastian remark through Grell's pleads; he then turned to Ceil and asked,

"Young master, hideous though he may be, he is still a divine being, are you prepared to shoulder the heavy crime of killing the divine?"

"Are you trying to make me repeat my order?" Ceil asked his butler coldly.

"Very good, my lord." Sebastian responded obediently, he then looked back down at Grell as he started his weapon.

"No, Stop, don't kill him, please!" Rin screamed helplessly and Shizu was sure now that her host was crying, but she had no idea why, that man had killed her own aunt, even if that aunt was a pain in the butt, she was still her family, heck, he even tried to kill her, if someone had killed someone she loved, including herself, she would gladly watch them as they were destroyed before her eyes.

"You're too naïve." Shizu remarked silently as Sebastian still messed with Grell.

"You scream nicely." Sebastian complimented as he hovered over Grell, the large spinning blade gripped tightly in his hands ready to end its master, "As a reward, I'll kill you with your own toy!" and Sebastian then lifted the blade over his shoulder and held it there for a minute while he finished his sentence.

"Please stop!" Grell screamed over the roar of his blade.

"No." Sebastian stated plainly.

"Don't you want to know who killed his parents?" Grell asked desperate to hold onto his life, and she heard Ceil gasp as Sebastian brought the blade down to end Grell's life. Shizu closed her eyes to spare Rin the horror of witnessing the death as she heard the scream of metal against metal, the blade still roaring nonetheless. She opened her eyes to see somebody else had intercepted Sebastian's move with their own weapon as sparks began to bounce off from the interlocking metal.

"What the heck?" Shizu asked as the noise of the weapon stopped and everyone looked up to see someone standing on the rooftop of the building in front of them.

"I apologize for interrupting your conversation." The person whose voice sounded to be male, apologized, "I am William T. Spears, an administrator at the Grim Reaper Staffing Association." He then took out what looked to be a large book from inside his suit, adjusting his glasses with his weapon he now had shortened so it was about as tall as him, "I came to take charge of that reaper."

"What!?" Shizu heard herself ask as she felt her heart start to pick up the pace of its beating, and she knew right away this was not the normal beat of excitement she was used to feeling, this was not a beating she liked. She thought the name of this man sounded familiar, but she didn't know why, and what was with this weird feeling she had suddenly started to feel, it was starting to freak her out.

"Rin!" Shizu scream echoed through the emptiness of her mind.

"What?" Rin asked through a small sniffle, she sounded like she had ceased her crying for the moment, for the moment Grell was now safe.

"Stop making my heart beat so fast, it's annoying!" Shizu commanded as she felt the tips of her cheeks start to burn slightly.

"Shizu, you're the one in control of this body, not me, I am not doing anything, do you know the man on the roof?" Rin asked, her curiosity peeking through her voice.

"O…of course not, why would I, that's stupid, I mean he's a stranger right, I shouldn't know him…" She continued to go on, as she seemed to be trying to assure herself of not having any prior memory of this "William T Spears." She then looked over to watch William descend from the top of the roof and land forcefully on top of Grell who had just been calling out his name excitedly a few seconds ago, he then made Grell's face become one with the pavement.

"Ouch, that looked like it hurt." Shizu commented as she watched the man's eyes glance over at her for a moment, she wanted to step back but instead she ran over to join Sebastian, she was not going to let this weird feeling beat her. She walked over with a scowl and a hand on her hip as she watched the man take out his book and he started to read as he continued to stand on Grell, his voice expressionless.

"Temp worker Grell Sutcliff, you have violated regulations, firstly, you killed people not on the "to Die List", Secondly, you used a death scythe for which a permission form was not filed, and finally, you attempted to leak information about the cause of death and identity of a murderer." He finished snapping his book shut, his foot pushing Grell deeper and deeper into the ground. He then seemed to hop from Grell's head and right in front of Shizu, the fact that he was so close made Shizu step back a little as she tried her best to keep the scowl she was wearing, she then felt her heart leap from the inner chambers of her chest as he then got down on one knee and stated with the same monotone voice,

"I am sorry for all the trouble this wretch has caused you, miss Shizu." And with that, he took one of Shizu's lightly scratched hands in both of his gloved concealed hands; he seemed to study it for a moment before lightly kissing it. Shizu in both surprise and anger then took that hand and slapped him vehemently across the face, leaving a small red misshapen handprint on his cheek that quickly started to dissipate.

"What the Heck man, what was that?!" She screamed feeling heat rise to her cheeks, and her heart continued to beat faster and faster until she was afraid it would explode, "And by the way…. My name's not Shizu…. I…it's Rin!

"What?" Rin's sudden curious voice resounded through Shizu's maddened mind as Shizu proceeded to take her name.

"That's funny, if I remember correctly, you said your name was Shizu, Shizu Kanjiru if I remember correctly." Sebastian stated with a laugh as he could be seen stealing Shizu's smirk.

"Shut up you piece of pathetic trash, I didn't ask you to butt in did I?" She screamed as she turned to look at Sebastian with a harsh glare, the heat still lingering within her cheeks. She then looked back down at Will who stayed where he was for a moment before he started to make his way back up on his feet. He was a bit taller than her, wearing the same greenish yellow eyes that Grell wore that were often concealed in the glare of his glasses he seemed to be constantly adjusting. His black hair was combed neatly to the sides and his attire seemed to be that of a black suit, black dress pants and a tie as well as a pair of gloves he wore on his hands. He bowed normally this time as he stated,

"I see, then I do apologize miss Rin, you just remind me of someone I knew."

"I…It's okay….I…I get that a lot." Shizu stuttered as she stared at him straight in his bright eyes, they seemed cold, desolate and almost lonely, like a abandoned house that hadn't been cared for in years, and when she looked into them she expected herself to become angry as when she did when she looked in Grell's, but she didn't, she felt almost peaceful, comfortable really, like she had been taken home.

"Ugh, that's disgusting, what kind of teenage romance movie is this?" Shizu screamed at herself.

"Shizu, I think you may be in love." Rin called out obviously hearing Shizu's scream.

"Love, no way, that's impossible, I don't fall in love, that's for girls who are weak and have no life!" Shizu spat at Rin's comment.

"That's not true." Rin argued softly as Shizu began to tune her out and turn her attention back on the man standing in front of her. He watched her for a minute before adjusting his glasses once again. He then he removed a small piece of what looked to be paper from the black jacket of his suit and proceeded to hand it to her as he replied,

"Oh, I almost forgot, here's my card." And Shizu took it in her fumbling hands as she read carefully.

"William T. Spears." She then looked up to see that Will had disappeared from in front of her and was no starting to drag Grell's helpless body by its hair down into blackness of the alleyway. She then felt a sudden gust of wind whip past her as she looked over to see that Sebastian had thrown Grell's blade and it was drawing ever nearer to Will's head,

"Hey look-" Shizu tried to warn him, but her warning didn't seem to be necessary because before she could utter another word, Will had already caught the end of the blade between his fingers.

"He caught that…." Shizu trailed off in disbelief.

"Between his fingers!" Rin finished for her. Shizu then looked back over towards Sebastian who wore a large grin on his face as he stated,

"You forgot that." And Shizu could feel herself become furious as Will replied,

"Thank you." And he let the weapon fall from his fingers onto Grell's stomach as Grell let out a grunt of pain, "Now if you will excuse me."

"You idiot, if he hadn't caught that, you could have killed him!" Shizu then turned her anger onto Sebastian as William continued to make his way into the alleyway.

"Ah, but he did catch it, miss Kanjiru, or should I say, miss Shizu?" Sebastian asked taunting the flustered girl.

"Shut up, nobody has the right to call me that, especially not someone like you!" Shizu hissed at the demon.

"So I see." Sebastian seemed to muse to himself as he put a finger to his lips in thought, "And here, I thought you and I were starting to become friends" Sebastian ended with a laugh. In desperate attempt to release all of her bottled up irritation, Shizu screamed before letting her host retake her body. When Rin could feel her body start to work for her again, she passed out on the spot, and if it wasn't for her maid suddenly catching her when she did, Rin would have fallen hard on the cold wet ground her aunt's lifeless body remained lying upon.


	13. The Promise

**Authors Note: Yes, I did it, finally! Sorry this took so long, there is a long list of thing that contributed to it taking so long, but I won't busy you with the excuses so let's get to it. This time I technically did not use the anime, so most of these quotes in here should be mine, but for those that aren't, I do not own them. This one is shorter that the ones that I have been doing so I don't think you'll need a lot of time for this one. Thank you so much for those of you who have been reading my fan fiction, I really appreciate it! Have a lovely evening everyone! -^^-**

**Note: I kind of rushed a little at the end to try to finish it, so sorry if it's not as good as usual...^^; **

Chapter 13: The Promise

Rin awoke with a start, the early morning light pouring into her eyes through her delicate white curtains, blinding her for a moment and forcing her to quickly shut her eyes again. She waited a couple seconds before trying to open them once again. Once her eyes had adjusted to the light, she felt a sharp pain pound throughout her head, as if it too had just woken up. She tried to get up, but her whole body seemed to pull her back down as her head quickly fell back on her pillow.

"Wow, I didn't realize we were having a hangover, aren't we a little young for those anyways?" She heard Shizu ask.

"I guess." Rin answered pressing her palm against her forehead to try to stop the ever-growing pain.

"You guess how old are you anyways?" Shizu interrogated suddenly.

"Um, 16, I think." Rin answered trying to search her mind for an answer, but it just ended up making her head worse and she winced in pain at the end of her reply.

"16, convincing, see not even old enough to drink." Shizu seemed to laugh to herself.

"Shizu, are you okay?" Rin asked, highly questioning Shizu's strange behavior.

"Huh, oh yeah, I am so fine, great even." Shizu assured her unconvincingly, "Man, did I ever tell you how much I love living inside your body, I mean it's so cozy in here, I may actually never want my own body!

"No, you haven't." Rin replied honestly, "Shizu, does this have anything to do with what happened last night?" Rin then quickly regretted asking this once she heard it come out, but it was already too late. She heard Shizu go quiet for a moment before answering,

"No, not really, it's just that, what if I really am not human?" Shizu answered Rin's question with another question.

"Why wouldn't you be human?" Rin asked unknowingly.

"Well, for starters, I'm pretty sure humans don't just magically start floating in the air or spawn on top of rooftops without the use of a ladder or something, and how did that reaper know my name?" Shizu questioned Rin again, Rin in turn did not respond for she did not have an answer to that question.

"Shizu, do you ever think we'll get our memories back?" Rin decided to ask instead.

"I don't know man." Shizu answered with an irritated tone.

"I want my memory back." Rin whispered, not really meaning to catch the ear of Shizu.

"Yeah, well I want chocolate and my own castle, we all want things Rin, but not all of us are going to get them." Shizu remarked bluntly and the inside of Rin's mind went completely silent as she heard the click of her bedroom door opening and watched as Utsuho made her way into her room and over towards Rin's large window, pulling open her curtains and bringing even more light into Rin's already brightened room. She didn't seem to notice that her noble was awake until she heard her roll over in her bed, trying to shield her eyes from the light, her bed making a soft squeak.

"Oh, M'lady, I didn't know you were up, sorry for entering your room without your permission." Utsuho apologized as Rin rolled over to look at her.

"No, that's fine." Rin smiled as she looked around her room for a moment before asking, "Hey, is Ceil downstairs?"

Utsuho shook her head silently and replied, "No, I'm afraid he is not, M'lady, he actually left a little while ago to Miss. Burnetts' funeral, I haven't a clue of when he 'll be back."

"Oh." Rin responded simply as she recalled the events of the other night, her head began to pound once more, the pain seemed to be trying to block the memories form her mind.

"I would have taken you to the funeral as well M'lady, but Ceil suggested you stay here and rest after, you know, last night." Utsuho began again, interrupting Rin's thoughts.

"Hey, do you think she knows that you know about her little secret identity now?" Shizu asked Rin suddenly in a hushed voice, almost as if she assumed Utsuho was listening.

"I don't know." Rin answered honestly, trying to keep the same hushed tone, but if Utsuho really could hear what went on inside her mind, there really was no use for the tone, "I mean, I guess it could be possible, if what Sebastian had said was true, then she might have heard me from within your mind, but I don't know if she knew that I saw anything. " Shizu then replied with an irritable groan,

"Yeah, and I hate to say it, but if Sebastian can read our minds, and he's a demon then-"

"No!" Rin screamed cutting Shizu off, she already knew what Shizu was trying to say, but she refused to believe it, she refused to believe her sweet, beautiful maid was in fact, a demon, though her appearance the other night on the rooftop seemed to suggest otherwise, she completely refused to believe it.

"Come one Rin, the girl on that rooftop the other night was defiantly not human, and I'm pretty sure that was no grim reaper either." Shizu stated trying to get Rin to come to her senses.

"Maybe it was someone else that just looked a lot like Utsuho!" Rin suggested, seemingly trying to convince herself instead of Shizu.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Shizu replied, as she seemed to be letting Rin win this argument.

"M'lady, I may not be able to bring you to the funeral seeming it may be over now, but I could take you to her grave, but we'll have to leave soon." Utsuho stated hurriedly, breaking through Rin's thoughts once again, possible on purpose. Rin in turn nodded in agreement with her maid, even though Madame Red had been quite harsh to her, she felt it would be nice to visit her, both Madame Red and Rin were still technically part of the same family.

"Well then, why don't you hop out of bed, and I'll pick out your outfit" Utsuho replied as she walked over towards Rin's closet. Rin, in response to Utsuho's commanded started to make her way from under the sheets, as her legs became exposed to the light, she noticed that her once rough, scratched skin had now become smooth and glowing, as if the injuries Shizu had received last night had never even happened.

Rin and her maid stood in front of a good sized, newly placed tombstone, the name Angelina Burnett engraved into the cold, grey slab of rock. The sky above them was a late afternoon gold mixed with some early morning blue, the few clouds that filled the colorful sky were stained a light pink, the air around them had a slight chill. Rin was in a long, draping onyx black dress, her hair tied into a large bun that sat on top of her head, two loose strands of hair fell on either side of her face. Her maid wore her uniform; her lengthy hair fell to her shoulders in its regular fashion as she looked down upon the grave, her face solemn.

"It was quite a shame she had to die like that." Rin remarked, trying to break the silence that was running between the two. Her maid looked up from the ground, her face had a look of both surprise and slight grief.

"Yes, I suppose it was quite a shame, M'lady." Utsuho replied with intonation. The silence then took its place back between the two as Rin brought her head down to look at Madame Red's grave as well.

"Ah my, if it isn't the little miss herself, what a coincidence it is meeting you here." Rin heard a familiar voice call out to her.

"Aww man, not this creep again." She heard Shizu grumble to herself as both Rin and her maid whipped around to see the shady, cloaked appearance of the man they simply called, the Undertaker, the pain in Rin's arm then started to flare up again.

"What do you want?" Utsuho asked protectively as she placed an arm in front of her Noble.

"Now, now, there's no need for that kind of attitude, I am only here to see the little miss." The Undertaker replied to Utsuho's question rather calmly.

"What do you want me for?" Rin asked trying to sound brave, her voice shaking vaguely due to both her nervousness and the mysterious aching that kept on worsening within her arm. The Undertaker responded with a small, creepy giggle before asking,

"Well, I was only wondering if you perhaps wanted to know of your prior memories?"

At that question, Rin felt both her curiosity and her excitement reach their peaks, her heart began to beat faster and her brain seemed to drown out any common sense. She knew what she was going to say, she was going to say yes, she absolutely had to know of her prior memories, maybe he'd even reveal Shizu's.

"This seems fishy." Shizu remarked skeptically, "Rin, I really wouldn't believe anything this guy says."

"Why Shizu, he could tell us our prior memories, he could tell us if you really are a human, don't you want to know?" Rin asked trying to get Shizu to believe the Undertaker's possible promise.

"Yeah, but how would he know these things, did he like stalk us or something?" Shizu asked trying to pull Rin from her delusion.

"Come on Shizu, I really want to know, this could be our only chance to regain our memories, please!" Rin begged Shizu, as if Shizu had any control over what Rin did.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you!" Shizu admitted defeat as Rin felt her heartbeat quicken once again.

"So, what will it be, my dear?" The Undertaker asked somewhat curiously.

"I'll do it!" Rin agreed as she heard her maid scream in shock,

"M'lady?!" but it was too late, Rin had already made up her mind.

"Excellent." She heard the Undertaker whisper almost to himself as she followed him away from her aunt's gravestone and the safety of her maid to a place only he had in mind and she felt the air around her grow threateningly cold, almost as if it were warning her to turn back.

The Undertaker finally led Rin to the side of a large, somewhat rundown church that had been a little ways form the graveyard; she assumed this is where they held her aunt's funeral.

"Now, are you ready my dear?" the Undertaker suddenly asked breaking their silence as he pointed with his index finger towards the side wall of the church, motioning her to go stand against it. Rin did as she was instructed with some hesitation, wondering why he took her to such a desolate place when all he really promised was to reveal to Rin her prior memories, he probably could have done it in front of Utsuho. She then started to regret following him to the place, maybe Shizu really was right, she shouldn't have let herself get so excited about something like her lost memories, she should have been more concerned with her own life.

"Shizu, I'm sorry about all this, maybe I should tell him that I've changed my mind and want to go back." Rin suggested nervously.

"Knife." Was all Shizu responded with, her voice sounded almost as if she was in some sort of trance.

"What?" Rin asked befuddled as she looked over at the Undertaker who didn't seem to be doing anything suspicious at the time.

"Knife you idiot, get out of the way!" Shizu screamed as Rin felt herself duck intuitively, the pain in her arm seemed to scream for a split second before she hit the ground. Rin then looked over to see that the Undertaker was standing right beside her, a few inches from her body holding a knife which he had lodged into the exterior wall of the building, and she realized that if she had ducked when she did, that knife would've ended up in her head.

"That was close!" Rin stated unsteadily as she tried to catch her breath in the short time she had before the Undertaker tried to strike again.

"See, I told you this was a bad idea, you know not all voices in your head are crazy, some actually know what they're talking about, princess!" Shizu began to rant as Rin started to watch the Undertaker carefully, trying to anticipate his next move.

"Aww looks like I missed, sorry about that my dear, I'll get you next time." The Undertaker promised with an unsettling giggle as he ripped the knife from out of the wall.

"Why does it seem like everyone is trying to kill us lately?" Shizu asked sounding annoyed, but Rin in turn had no time to respond for the Undertaker was coming for her again. He tried to stab her while she lie on the ground, but all he was able to do was rip a strand from the end of her dress as she tried to make her escape. She was then finally able to remove herself from the ground and away from the Undertaker, the end of her black dress in tatters.

"Please help me!" Rin tried to scream to anyone who would listen, but nobody seemed to hear her as the Undertaker tried to come at her for the third time.

"You wimp, fight back!" Shizu commanded coldly, but Rin didn't know how to fight back, she had never remembered having to defend herself before, she didn't even have a weapon with her, how was she supposed to fight back? In attempt at a defense, Rin put her hands up to her face and shut her eyes, wondering what good this would do. As she heard the Undertaker starting to make his way towards her, she felt something appear within her once empty hands and felt the force of the object increase within her grasp, as it seemed to block the Undertaker's attack. Rin then slowly opened her eyes and watched as The Undertaker jumped back, retreating from his attack for the moment. She then looked down at her hands, which held what looked to be the exact same weapon Shizu had used the night before.

"Hey, wait a second, how did _you_ get that?" Shizu asked sounding staggered.

"I….I don't know." Rin answered puzzled as she stared down in awe at her newly obtained weapon.

"Well, Well, now isn't this a surprise, I guess things can get a little more exciting now." The Undertaker chuckled, as he held his knife out in front of his face, the warped form of Rin's reflection could be seen within the slightly rusty surface of the blade. The sky around them had grown dark and the light of the moon painted tall, ghostly shadows on the ground that seemed to watch them, waiting for something to happen as they stood still in the silence of the night.

"Well my dear, are you ready to continue this little dance of ours?" The Undertaker asked Rin, who in response nodded quietly in agreement, though she didn't know if the Undertaker could see her as she was being masked in the dark of night. Rin then took her blade and held it out in front of her as a form of defense and she heard the Undertaker's footsteps making their way swiftly towards her, the pain in her arm started to increase but she had learned how to ignore it for the time being as she tried her best to focus.

"Undertaker, stop!" She heard the loud, commanding voice of her little cousin scream, relief filling her body until she could feel herself start to relax a bit.

"Young Earl, what another wonderful surprise!" The Undertaker yelled with delight, he then seemed to stop dead in his attack.

"What are you doing?" Ceil asked angrily demanding an answer as Rin ran over to meet her new but broken family.

"Oh Earl, I'm afraid this girl you call Rin, I'm afraid she can't be allowed to live." The Undertaker answered plainly with what looked to be a shrug from where Rin was standing.

"Not allowed to live, what are you talking about?" Ceil screamed furiously, his fists looking to be clenched. Rin then started to feel herself worry, why wouldn't she be allowed to live, what was wrong with her? The Undertaker sniggered before answering,

"I think you know what I mean, Lord Phantomhive." And she looked over to see her cousin's face turn to a scowl, she then began to wonder what Ceil knew about her that she didn't.

"Well then, I guess I will be taking my leave, good night Young Earl, Young Miss." The Undertaker stated before leaving the group in a moment of drawn out silence.

"Come Rin, let us make our leave a well." Ceil instructed as he followed by Rin made their way for the carriage that was waiting patiently out in front of the church, the moon shown brilliantly in the sky followed by a cluster of tiny, dancing stars, the air around them grew colder the longer they stood outside.

"Um, Ceil?" Rin began to ask cautiously.

"What?" Ceil replied quite harshly as both Rin and him made their way onto the carriage. Rin quickly withdrew her original question and simply answered with,

"No, it's nothing." Rin figured perhaps it was best, at least for a while; that she try not to obsess over her past and instead, focus more on her future.


	14. Chihuahua

**Authors Note: Hey guys, I'm back, sorry for yet another long wait, but the next chapter is finally out! Yeah, and my writing style has changed yet again, it's starting to look more like when I did the first chapter, I prefer this writing style over the one's I have been doing in the past and I wish it would stay consistent, but it has not, I don't know, do you notice a change in writing styles from my earlier chapters to this one? Also, I am here to clear up some confusion concerning my fan fic, here goes: PLEASE READ BEFORE CONTINUING if you haven't already. ^^**

**First off, Utsuho Reiuji being way too OOC, as you may already know in my fan fic, Utsuho is not the usual unstable maniac she is known for being in the actual game, she's more prim and proper and I understand that may upset some people. Now, here's the question, why didn't I use Sakuya Izayoi for the role of Rin's maid? Well, here's my answer, since both Ciel's and soon Alois's main servants are known to be demons, I wanted Rin's main servant to be somewhat of a demon and I wanted them to be from Gensokyo, though, yes, I could have made my own maid for Rin, but I'm not really into making demon characters mainly due to the fact that I HATE DEMONS, (lol, so why do I watch Black Butler? XD) so thus, you have Utsuho, she has black hair, red eyes, I mean, she looks a lot like Sebastian, well, if Sebastian was female and had longer hair, but still. Now, I didn't really have to make her prim and proper, and she probably won't be that way forever, I'll probably find some room in my fanfic to have her mess up, but their is a reason why she acts that way, and for those of you who would like to know why she acts this way, continue reading, but for those of you who just can't stand Utsuho's personality in this fan fic, then I am afraid you will have no other choice but to stop reading this, I am not trying to be rude and I do appreciate you at least trying my fan fiction out, it's just that I am not changing my fan fic because of ****that, please try to understand. For those of you who do like this, I thank you so much! ^^**

**Also, I realized I have spelled Ciel's name wrong, so I did fix that in this chapter, pardon the confusion. **

**Now, enough drama, I have a question for you all. **

**What type of dog do you think Utsuho would be, I said a Shepard as in maybe a German Shepard, but I want to hear what you think. **

**Anyways, thanks so much for reading and I hope to get the next chapter out as soon as possible, have a wonderful evening everyone! -^^-**

**Edit: Sorry, i forgot to add the breaks in this chapter the first time so I put them in just now. ^^;**

Chapter 14: Chihuahua

The long, dreary sky silently overlooked the dusty green sloping hills that surrounded a group of miniscule carriages. The carriages threaded themselves upon the ever-curving road, tall, withering trees met them at every turn, their twisted forms resembled that of suffering apparitions.

"Resort, Resort, we're so happy!" Came the cheerful cries of the four eager servants in the carriage behind Rin's, their cheers contrasting with the dull, menacing atmosphere around them. Rin sat in the front carriage with both her little cousin Ciel, and her maid Utsuho as Ciel's butler Sebastian sat up front, driving their somewhat miniature phaeton, its rickety body sending its passengers upwards with every bump it hit. Despite the sound of laugher and joy she heard in the back, Rin felt a heavy surge of doubt flow through her body that whispered silently to her this was going to be no resort, from what she knew of her younger cousin, he was never one for taking any free time, therefore, this had to be some form of a job.

"They are fortunate people." She heard Sebastian suddenly speak up, referring to the four in the back, "It appears they're grateful to you, my kind master."

"I don't want to leave them behind by themselves, and come back to find the manor destroyed." Ciel replied indignantly.

"Indeed." Was all Sebastian had to say to Ciel's remark. A worn down, wooden sign met them at the entry of a small village, the town they called, Houndsworth.

"This would seem to be the entrance of the village." Sebastian informed the group behind him, as he brought their carriages to a halt. Rin began to observe her surroundings; a looming tree held within its finger like branches an array of dull grey dog collars that hung from the tree by chains, their once shiny metal dirtied with rust. Skulls of what looked to be that of animals lie motionless beneath the tree, their hollow eyes stared blankly at the group. Rin then heard the piercing screams of the three servants that sat in the carriage behind her, their terror blending in much better with the atmosphere.

"I forgot to tell you one thing." Ciel began, his expression cold, as always, "This is the planned construction site for the resort."

"Young master…" Rin looked behind her to see the once joyous group on the verge of tears, Tanaka replying in his usual, "Ho, ho."

* * *

They continued on through the haze that seemed to go on forever, growing thicker and thicker as they went, making it difficult to detect what was going on in front of them. Rin could feel herself become somewhat bored when she heard yet another elated cry from behind her, this time though, it was only Finni,

"Hey, I found the first villager!" Rin looked to where his finger was pointing and noticed that there was indeed a human, or at least a humanoid figure coming up beside them, and as they came closer, Rin could see that it looked to be a woman with what she assumed to be a baby carriage, Rin had another intuitive feeling that this lady was not safe, but on Finni's command, Tanaka stopped the carriage for them. Once the carriage sit stationary, Finni hopped out eagerly and walked over towards the old lady.

"I'll help you out there, Granny!" Finni replied without even giving the woman time to make a possible rejection.

"N-no, Finni!" Mey Rin warned, "If you're not careful, the baby will-" but the warning came too late, Finni already held the baby carriage over his head as if it were nothing but the air itself. Once he seemed to realize what he had done, he hastily dropped the carriage, smashing it to pieces and Rin felt something drop within her throat, it choked her for a second as Finni declared his apology to everyone. Rin decided to join the group of servants as they all walked over to examine the baby.

"Is the baby all right?" Mey-Rin asked nervously as Rin came to stand next to her, but instead of a baby, all Rin saw was another one of those animal skulls rapped up in a tattered grey cloth, its eyes giving her the same blank stare as the ones back beneath the tree.

"This child was eaten by it." The old lady replied grimly, her lips stretched in an unnerving smile.

"It?" Rin questioned herself on the arising topic. She then listened carefully to the woman's soft, but raspy voice as she started to sing,

"The white dog is a good dog, the disobedient black dog is a bad dog."

"Apparently there are many villagers missing or violently killed, part of my job is to find the cause and dispose of it." She heard Ceil speak up, his voice drowning out that of the old lady's who continued to hum to herself, her voice following her down the path she was walking along until it slowly faded out of hearing along with the sight of the woman herself.

* * *

They continued on towards the village, the thickening fog dispersing for a moment, giving them time to see where they were actually headed. The faint, but awe filled gasps of the three still quite eager servants could be heard as they made their way along the edge of yet another towering hill that over looked a massive lake, its surface shimmered against the elusive sun making it seem like it wasn't just water that occupied the body, but precious, clear, glimmering gemstones as well, it looked quite out of place in the so far morose atmosphere.

"It's startin' to actually look like a resort!" Declared the Phantomhive's lead chef, Bard as soon as the chorus of excited breaths calmed themselves.

* * *

The sight of tall, greyish-blue building started to replace that of the dusty green mountains as the group of carriages made their way into the town itself. The town, Rin thought, reminded her a lot of London, despite the lack of people that roamed the streets, and the almost vacant feel of the village. The obtrusive barks of dogs could be heard following the sound of their carriages and Rin watched a young, auburn haired boy as he played happily with a good sized grey and cream colored dog, both beast and human seemed to be enjoying themselves and Rin couldn't help but smile.

"Wow, I'd like him to pet me, yes!" Mey-Rin cooed dreamily.

"Wow, okay." Came the noise of the girl who occupied Rin's mind, she hadn't heard from Shizu in a while, and it made her happy to know she was still there with her.

"He warps its will with rewards and punishments, and forces obedience." Sebastian started suddenly, "A fine sight!"

"Good morning to you as well, Sebastian." Shizu groaned sarcastically as she always did to try to show here distaste in the demon.

"But the dog is not blameless." Sebastian continued, paying no attention to Shizu despite the fact that he may very well have heard her, "It fawns on humans, and welcomes the chain around its neck, really, it's quite hard to understand."

"If you have something to say, just say it." Ciel commanded sternly.

"Thank you, my lord." Sebastian replied sounding somewhat happy, as he seemed to be trying to get whatever this was off his chest, " I love cats, but I'm not fond of dogs, or rather, to be frank, I hate them." Sebastian then turned around so the back of his carriage could see his smile.

"Woof." Ciel replied plainly, a small, arrogant smile played on his lips.

* * *

They finally came to the bottom of a hill which atop sat a rather, creepy broken down old house, more withered trees surrounded this house and at first glance seemed to be the only occupants that would ever come close to being in the house's presence. Grey clouds sat above it, watching both the house and everything around it, including the group of carriages that were now starting to make their way towards the front of the it. In what seemed to be a response of the ever approaching carriages, a young woman, who looked to have white hair and was dressed a maids uniform, ran out from the large mouth-like entry way of the house.

"The Earl Phantomhive, I presume?" She asked as the carriages came puling up towards her.

"Yes." Sebastian replied looking down at her.

"Welcome to Barrymore Castle, my master awaits your arrival." The girl stated as she began to bow humbly. Rin listened to the few seconds of the silence that followed before she heard the voice of Mey-Rin state,

"Sh-she's beautiful, yes!"

* * *

The woman led the group of only Ciel, Sebastian, Rin and Utsuho into a spacious hallway decorated with a large array of what looked to Rin to be weaponry, she then proceeded to take them into a smaller, but still quite spacious room and the first thing the whole group seemed to notice about the room was the large heads of assorted animals mounted on the wall to greet their guests as they walked in, some more weaponry was also displayed upon the walls. The intrusive crack of a whip could be heard next mixed with the sound of the woman's scream as the group looked over to see a somewhat bulky man sporting a great amount of hair on both his head and his cheeks as well as above his eyes. He was looming over the woman who kneeled on the ground in fear of the, lengthy whip the man held out in front of her.

"Who the devil is this Chihuahua?" Screamed the man as he continued to whip the poor, helpless woman, "I told you to go receive the Queen's messenger!"

"Chihuahua…?" Sebastian asked dumbfounded at the man's comment.

"Heh, short people problems." Shizu joked.

"Can't you even do a simple thing like that, Angela?" The man continued to yell furiously.

"Sebas-" Ceil was about to command his trusty butler, but was stopped when he noticed that Utsuho was already doing the job made for his butler.

"Utsuho?!" Rin asked in shock as she noticed that her usually quiet maid held the wrist of the man in her tight grip as her eyes looked to be turning a bright shade of red. The man turned to glare at her as he asked in disbelief,

" What are you doing, you filthy Shepard, trying to bite my head off, are you, let me go!"

"I ordered her to do it." Ceil declared, slipping in a lie.

"What?" The man asked staggered.

"It sounds as though you got my letter." Ciel started to explain his reasoning bit by bit as he gladly took a seat in front of the befuddled man on one of the many couches provided to him, "I am Ciel Phantomhive." Rin watched her maid as she released her grip on the man's wrist, and though her eyes started to fade out, her lips remained a scowl.

"You mean to tell me a little toy poodle like you is Her Majesty's messenger?" The man asked now clearly angered.

"I wonder if he ever gets tired of hearing people say things like that?" Shizu mused to herself as Ciel asked with a shrewd smile,

"You disapprove of small breeds, Lord Henry?"


	15. S'up Princess?

***Autors Note*-Hey guys, I'm back, and I hope you enjoyed your last short chapter, because here comes a long one! XD So for those of you who have school ****tomorrow, I wouldn't suggest reading this tonight, unless your reading this text on a weekend then forget my last comment. So I know, "S'up" probably wasn't used very much or at all during the Victorian Era but, I thought I'd just add in some humor. Thank you all who have been reading and following my story, I really appreciate it and I hope to get the next chapter out real soon! Bye for now! -^^_**

**Also, sorry for any grammar mistakes I might have missed, I edited pretty late at night so...^^; (Late for me anyways.)**

Chapter 15: "S'up Princess?"

The forlorn, but spacious room held only six of the eight travelers (nine if you count Shizu) in its walls. Two of whom the walls contained were Rin and her little cousin Ciel, they sat in front of a lengthy, light brown table, in front of them sat the man Rin had seen earlier whipping his maid. That maid, Angela, stood to the right of the group sitting at the table, she was surrounded by her own group of both Sebastian and Utsuho. The silent, but unmistakable clinking sound of a small glass object trying its best to remain balanced could be heard breaking the dead silence of the room, sounding almost as if it were the proxy for a cry for help. Rin watched the ash white haired maid as she weakly began to pour a glass of tea, her delicate hands showed clear signs of abuse. Next, Rin noticed as Sebastian was about to lean in towards Angela's ear, probably to try to offer his help, but Utsuho took that role instead,

"I can take care of this." Utsuho whispered into the woman's ear. Rin thought it was quite odd of her maid as this was not her usual behavior, sure she was quite polite, but only really to Rin, to everyone else, she was but a shadow and mainly let Sebastian do most of the work, what was so special about this woman? The sudden slap of papers hitting the table interrupted Rin's thoughts and the gruff voice of the man in front of her replied,

"It's not worth discussing, no matter what the terms, I can't sell this place."

"Let me hear your reason." Ciel demanded of the man while Rin sat quiet as always, she wondered why Ciel even bothered to let her participate in these types of things, its not like she was much help. The man sat silent for a minute before answering Ciel, his reply quite ridiculous despite his tone of voice,

"The curse."

"Curse?" Ciel mimicked the man's reply with a question.

"This village has lived alongside its dogs since ancient times." The man began to explain his point, "Those who interfere with it are cursed by a fearsome scourge." The man then stood up, his dark figure towering over both Rin and her cousin, he continued grimly,

"Even Her Majesty cannot change that, great calamity befalls anyone who goes against the Barrymore family!"

"Oh, Interesting." Was all Ciel replied with.

"What?!" the man asked in both shock and anger.

"Let's have a nice, close look at this "calamity." Ciel suggested of the man with another haughty smile. The man in response only glared at him, fury seemed to burn within his eyes, his jaw clenched tightly.

* * *

Darkness had finally set itself upon the peculiar town of Houndsworth, and Rin herself was getting ready to retire to her new but temporary room. The room was a bit smaller than her cousin's room, but for Rin, it was fine. There was a sizable bed to her right, the head of it pressed gently against the wall, a smaller nightstand placed at its side. To her left, there was a small, pre lit fireplace, its flames giving the room its minute glow. Two empty chairs were placed facing each other in front of the fireplace. Rin started to leisurely make her way towards one of the unoccupied chairs when she recalled a question she wanted to ask her maid.

"Utsuho, can I ask you something?" Rin started, breaking the silence of the room's atmosphere.

"Yes, anything." Utsuho replied, her words inviting Rin's next question.

Rin hesitated for a minute, hoping she wasn't invading her maid's privacy, but was finally able to ask,

"Utsuho, why were you so protective of that woman, Angela, I mean, I don't have a problem with it, I thought it was really cool of you to go out of your way and protect her, but, I don't know, I am just curious?" Rin felt her words start to fade out a bit as she waited in the long silence for Utsuho to answer.

"Well, M'lady." Utsuho's soft voice began, breaking the awkward silence once again, "I guess it's because an important person once told me that women, especially women like her and yourself, are treated very poorly in this time, and that I should be the one who should help protect them from such violence as the scene you had just witnessed earlier." At the end of her maid's explanation, Rin felt another question start to form in her brain; her eyes darted towards the dark figure that was Utsuho, her form leaning against the end of the bed, her long black hair draping over her shoulders as she sated at the floor in what looked to be thought.

"Utsuho, what was the name of the "important person"?" Rin asked somewhat excitedly. Utsuho slowly looked up from the ground she was watching and turned to look at her noble, her eyes aglow with a gleam of deep red.

"In all fairness, M'lady, I have no idea, I haven't a clue of what she called herself, only that she stated herself to be extremely important." Utsuho replied calmly as she continued to look into her noble's eyes.

"But she was a woman?" Rin asked trying to get out as much as she could from Utsuho's broken memories. Utsuho in response nodded and then added,

"There might have been two women at the time, but, I can't seem to remember." Rin watched as Utsuho then put a hand to the front of her head; she looked as though she was in some kind of pain.

"So your maid's brain is messed up too eh?" Shizu expectantly asked, and Rin nodded in agreement.

"I wonder if all our memory loss is connected somehow, hmm?" Shizu mused aloud form inside Rin's head, "Ask her if she remembers anything else from her past?"

"But Shizu she's- but Rin found herself being cut off by her maid's response to the seemingly thought to be undetected request by Shizu,

"It's okay M'lady, I'm fine." She let out a small cough before continuing, "There actually isn't much that I remember, all I remember is my name, my powers, and that I have to protect you."

"Do you remember what that woman looked like?" Rin heard Shizu ask her maid from inside Rin's own mind, knowing that her maid could hear her.

"Well, I suppose a little bit, she had-but before Utsuho could finish her thought, the faint but clearly recognizable sound of Rin's door could be heard form behind the girls and they all turned to witness Angela walking into the room towards them, A look of worry could be seen masking her face.

" I do apologize for just barging in like this, I did try knocking but you didn't seem to hear me, so I waited a little while, but you still seemed busy so I-

"It's fine." Utsuho replied sounding almost harsh but she seemed to soften her tone a bit as she continued, " Is something the matter?"

"It's just that, I need your Lady to convince the young Phantomhive to leave along with all his guests, he is not welcomed here." The woman explained to the group.

"That's not suspicious, I say we ignore her." Shizu suggested.

"Well, I don't think I can, you see I'm not in control of what my cousin does, I'm sorry." Rin replied timidly hoping she hadn't offended the woman.

"But-" The woman's plea was cut out by the eerily noisy howl of a large dog.

"Well, that's something you don't hear everyday." Shizu commented.

"Oh no, the demon hound is here!" Angela cried in horror. Just then the door to Rin bedroom came open again, this time with a bit more force.

"What was that noise?" Ciel asked in a panic as he made his way into Rin's room followed by his butler.

"Speaking of demon hounds." Shizu sighed obviously referring to Ciel's butler.

"It's the demon hound!" Angela informed the two newcomers, her frail form shivering heavily.

"Demon Hound?" Ciel question was followed by Angela's scream.

"Oh my!" Utsuho shrieked from behind the group as they all turned around to face Rin's window with a chorus of gasps. Casted upon Rin's curtain concealed window was the shadowy form of what looked to be the head of a large dog.

"Sebastian!" Commanded Ciel hastily as Sebastian quickly made his way over towards Rin's window. Sebastian then proceeded to throw open the curtains, dispersing the image of the shadow dog form the group's sight.

Quickly, the crowd that consisted of Ciel, Rin, Utsuho and Sebastian ran towards the newly open window trying to catch whatever remains could be left by the mysterious creature. Rin and Ciel were allowed to look first and once they made their way in front of the window, their eyes searched frantically in hopes to catch a hint as to what had caused such a calamity.

"What was that?" Ciel asked seeming to have given up on his search.

"I don't know." Rin replied honestly trying her hardest to keep up her search, and just as she was about to give up hope, her eyes became fixated on something.

"Ciel, look!" Rin cried out pointing out the window, the glass kept her pointed finger from going out any further. The object of Rin's focus was on the move, and it seemed to be moving fast, but that wasn't the weirdest thing about it, the weirdest thing about it was that it seemed to be radiating this green light from its body.

* * *

The group had made their way out into the night, the only glow being from the light that poured form the open door of the manor they now stood in front of. Rin watched as her cousin kneeled upon the ground in front of what looked to be a footprint; the print seemed to radiate the same toxic green glow as the object Rin had seen earlier. Ciel took a bit of the print's residue between his fingers and examined it for a bit, Rin then thought she saw a familiar smirk spread across his lips before the concerned cries of the servants came out to greet them.

"Young Master, Young Miss!" Mey-Rin Cried.

"Angela!" Finni cried in unison with Mey-Rin.

"What the devil's the fuss about?" Bard asked as the group of worried servants stood in front of them.

"The demon hound has appeared." Angela enlightened them.

"Demon hound?" They asked befuddled.

"It brings calamity upon the village, those who defy my master are punished by the demon hound, that is the law of this village." Angela Finished as she looked up towards the servants with genuine concern.

"Oh come on, please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks this whole "demon hound" is a load of complete crap!" Shizu spat angrily as another voice could be heard in the distance, this voice being male.

"Angela, please tell Lord Barrymore that the demon hound has come." The man instructed Angela as they all turned around to witness a large crowd of people coming towards them, torches clenched tightly in their hands. Angela walked up to the front of her group to face the crowd before her.

"Who's been punished?" She asked with a gasp.

The Phantomhive household along with Angela had joined the group of townsfolk and they now stood around the mangled body of a young man who lie upon the cold dirt. His clothes torn to shreds and his body covered in fresh cuts.

"That's awful." Rin heard Bard comment as she felt herself nod in agreement. Ciel had made his way towards the body and now seemed to be examining it heavily.

"I see." He finally spoke up in an almost inaudible whisper.

"Don't touch!" Came the sudden, brash command that sounded as if it weren't too far from their group of bystanders. The crowd cleared itself slightly to make room for Lord Barrymore,

"So James was the bad dog?" Barrymore seemed to ask himself in a loud, authoritative voice.

"Yes, apparently he broke the five-dog rule and kept a sixth dog." One of the men from the crowd informed him.

"I see, then this was inevitable." Barrymore stated harshly.

"Hey, how can you say that?!" Bard demanded.

"This village has laws and I have decreed, those who break them are punished by the demon hound who protects the Barrymores!" The man explained to him and the rest of the uninformed group. The whole town then started to break into an ominously monotone tune,

"_Lullaby, Lullaby, the white dog is a good dog, the disobedient black dog is a bad dog, lullaby, the sun sets…" _

Rin then tried to tune out their song as she watched two men remove the young man's corpse from the center of the group, all the while singing the same melody.

" I was sure the outsiders would be its prey." Barrymore started as the crowd around the said newcomers started to scatter, "You had a narrow escape." And with that, both he and Angela made their way from the Phantomhives who were left to stand there in confusion.

* * *

"Utsuho, I don't know if I can do this." Rin called from the inside of the damp, darkened changing shed with nothing but a single layer of curtain concealing her from the outside world.

"Oh c'mon M'lady, If Miss Mey-Rin and I could do it, you can too!" Utsuho encouraged as she heard the rest of the servants sound in agreement. The light, splashing of water could be heard from beneath her as small waves pushed against the dock.

"I don't know." Rin whimpered silently, she looked down at her attire, which consisted of nothing, but a white, tight fitted shirt, and shorts as well as a long skirt that opened up in the front and revealed her soft, graceful legs.

"Come on, M'lady, I promise, it's okay." Utsuho assured and Rin, too tired of being a wimp pushed herself outside into the warm sun. Rin looked down at the group of servants who gathered around the dock beneath her feet, Utsuho being the one in the front. Rin watched a triumphant smile spread across her lips as she cheered,

"See, I knew you could do it!" Rin mimicked her smile as she made her way into the water. The water was surprisingly warm; it was probably the warmest thing about this town in Rin's opinion.

M'lady.'" Utsuho unintentionally interrupted.

"Oh yes?" Rin asked just coming out of another daze.

"Would you mind if I swam a little outwards, it's not too far I promise, you can come if you want?" Utsuho asked pointing out a couple yards in front of them and Rin allowed her to go, but turned down her offer to come.

"I'll be right back." She promised as she dove under the water. The whole group, including Rin, then stopped to watch Utsuho majestically make her way out towards her desired destination, coming up for breath only when she got there.

"Whoa." Rin heard Bard gasp as Utsuho came up for a couple seconds of air before returning back down into the water.

"She's a mermaid, yes!" Mey-Rin cried in disbelief as Utsuho came up from the water right in front of Rin.

"See, I told you it wouldn't be too long." Utsuho stated with a wide smile. Rin nodded as she watched the beads of water drip from her maid's skin.

* * *

Rin rested comfortably in the chair that her cousin had provided for her next to him, her maid stood behind her in stillness, though Rin had easily allowed her to partake in the meal that the rest of the servants were enjoying a couple feet away form them, she politely declined and continued to stand behind her noble. Rin let the sun's rays beat down on her, she felt the warmth of its light soak through her clothing until she felt completely at ease.

"It's been caught, the bad dog's been caught." Came the abrupt voice of a man, "It's James' dog, the punishment's about to began!"

"Aww man, just when I finally thought we'd have some peace, they pull us right back in don't they?" Shizu groaned loudly.

* * *

"Let it go, let it go!" Screamed a male voice as he began to beat a sizable, but defenseless wall chained dog. The townsfolk now gathered around this poor creature, as it seemed to be put on a trial, Rin and the rest of the Phantomhive's, along with Angela stood in the back and watched, unable to do much of anything at the moment.

"Begin!" Came the loud voice of Lord Barrymore followed by the obtrusive, angry barks of dogs that were then released by the crowd to attack the chained dog.

"No." Rin felt herself began to cry as she watched the event take place, "Why would they do something like this?" she whispered to Shizu.

"To put it plainly, some people are animals, even more so than real animals." Rin found it hard to hear Shizu through the raging cries of the gathering in front of her.

"The poor thing!" She heard the cry of the small gardener break through the uncontrolled cries of the crowd and watched as he ran up to the front of the crowd and proceeded to lift a large gatepost from its hinges and he then used it to beat the other untamed dogs.

"Finni!" The Phantomhive's called out in surprise as they all ran over to help him. The rustling of the crowd's footsteps could be heard behind them and they all turned to see their rage stained faces as they held up long, wooden poles in ready for an attack.

"They interrupted our holy punishment." Came a furious groan from the crowd.

"Well, this doesn't look good." Shizu stated the obvious.

"Punish the bad dogs, punish the bad dogs!"

* * *

"Ciel!" Rin cried as she watched her beloved cousin get strung to the wall of "bad dogs" by various chains. Her and the rest of the servants had been tied uncomfortably tightly to the pole that Finni had just rooted up a few minutes ago.

"Shut Up!" came a voice from the crowd clearly directed towards Rin.

"Any idea on how we'll be getting out of this one, princess?" Shizu asked curiously.

"No, not at the moment." Rin answered honestly.

"Well, I'd think of something quick, or instead of Ciel being the "bad dog", he'll end up becoming the "dead dog"" Shizu replied bluntly and Rin felt herself become sick to her stomach.

"You look pathetic, Maltese." Came the voice of Lord Barrymore.

"Master, I beg you, please forgive these people!" Begged Angela earnestly.

"True, this Pomeranian is the Queen's messenger." Barrymore replied with a wide smirk, "Depending on what he says, perhaps I'll let him go."

"Pull out of this village and advice Her Majesty never to touch it again!" Screamed Lord Barrymore towards Ciel.

"You'd go that far to protect your tiny kingdom?" Ciel asked arrogantly in reply despite his current situation., "you're the very dictionary definition of "Obsession."

"Oooh, that's got to burn!" Shizu commentated with a slight hiss.

"Then learn for yourself what happens to bad dogs who defy me!" challenged Barrymore and with a wave of his hand, he allowed the dog keepers to release their beasts upon the small child.

"Rin, remember what I said about that "dead dog" thing?" Shizu asked hastily and Rin felt something stir up inside her as she shut her eyes and screamed,

"Stop it right now!" And suddenly, she felt the ropes from around her body vanish and the pole that was once in back of her had also managed to disappear as well. She slowly opened her eyes and looked beneath her feet, she was now somehow standing on solid ground a few feet away form the pole. Too stunned to move from her spot, she slowly turned her head to look behind her. What she saw was the deep blue eyes of her cousin staring back at her, his face had a look of complete astonishment. both man and beast had also ceased their garrulous shouting and name calling for the short time being as they all watched the unusual event take the place of their "Holy Punishment."

"Rin?" Ciel started slowly.

"Y…Yes?" Rin asked unsteadily as she tried to wrap her head around everything that was going on.

"I would like to ask how you got form that pole over there" – he cocked his head towards said pole where the five other servants still remained, their eyes also wide with shock-, "To right in front of me, but first I must ask, who is that standing next to you?" Rin then turned her head to look towards the person Ciel was referring to, thoughtlessly thinking it was Utsuho despite the fact that Utsuho was still tied to the dowel a foot away from her. She was finally able to catch sight of the mysterious person next to her, this person, she had never remembered seeing before and she had no recollection of how they could have ended up right next to her. The person was female in gender and she must have sensed Rin staring at her because she turned to look at her.

The girl was about the same height as Rin, sporting the same auburn colored hair as well, except that this girl's hair was tied high into two medium length pigtails. Her eyes were also the same deep shade of brown as Rin's. Her dress was a deathly grey and it seemed to be made of some sort of gauzy material, and her shoes were sleek black heels.

"S'up Princess?" was all she replied with, and that was all she needed to reply with, because immediately, Rin recognized her voice, and she gasped,

"Shizu?"


	16. The Demon Hound: Pluto

**Authors Note: I am back again and if you thought my normal chapters are long, well, wait till you get a load of this one! In the Microsoft Word Document it was about 7000+ words as well as 14 pages, Add double spacing to those 7000+ words and you get about 29 pages. *internal screaming* Anyways, so sorry if some of the writing isn't as good as ****usual, the excessive amount of words slowly dimmed my creative writing spark...*cries* Oh well, I hope you all still enjoy it! **

**Note: I know some of these phrases such as "Mitosis" probably aren't a thing back in Elizabethan time, but just bare with me, Just adding some more humor, and there probably more words like that later on in my fan fiction, so don't scream at me just because they wouldn't normally be used in that time, thank you and have a wonderful weekend! -^^-**

Chapter 16: The Demon Hound: Pluto

"Shizu?" Ciel asked in both bewilderment and disbelief, his frail body still bound to the wall from behind Rin by coils of silver chain, "You mean that girl Sebastian had said lived inside your mind, Rin?"

"No, the other Shizu." Shizu mocked with a laugh, " See brat, now you wonder why we are out here and you are chained against a wall." Rin turned towards her former "parasite", a question causing red flames to burn the inside of her mouth, the flames began to burn hotter and hotter until she was forced to spit it out,

"Shizu, how did you get your own body?"

"Do you really want to know that now, or do you want to wait until after we release ourselves from this situation?" Shizu asked, the answer to her question seeming quite obvious despite the tug Rin's curiosity had upon her.

"That's what I thought." Shizu replied to Rin's responding silence, "Now let's see if this will work." Rin then turned to watch as Shizu began to bring her arms together straight out in front of her, and after a couple of seconds, she started to pull them apart. As she slowly tore her arms form one another, a brilliant light began to glow in between them, and it seemed to produce the form of Shizu's weapon. As the space between Shizu's arms began to grow, so did the weapon and once the veil of light that once enclosed the blade began to burn itself out, Shizu grabbed the middle of its sleek black handle in mid air and held it out in front of her.

"Aww yeah, now that's what I'm talking about!" Shizu cheered to the inanimate object in her grip.

"She's a Witch!" Suddenly cried someone from the once silenced crowd.

"Oh yeah, just because some girl splits herself into two _obviously _makes her a witch, geez why can't you think of a more creative term for it, like how about a really messed up version of mitosis!" Shizu suggested as she pointed her weapon towards the crowd in front of her in an intimidating manner, and in response to her action, the crowd receded a few steps back.

"Now Rin." Shizu began as she turned her attention back to her former host," I want you to do exactly what I just did, you know, how I summoned my weapon, I have another theory I want to test."

"But Shizu, I can't I'm human, and plus, aren't you holding the only weapon we have?" Rin asked, glancing back over towards the group behind her, the group that now knew her secret, their faces riddled with fear because of it.

"Just do it." Shizu ordered, becoming quite impatient. She did not seem to concern herself with Rin's dilemma at the moment. Blindly following Shizu's frustrated command, Rin quickly closed the gap between her arms and held them straight out in front of her, the crowd both in front and in back of her seemed to hold their breath in anticipation. After a couple of heart pounding seconds later, Rin slowly began to reopen the gap between her outstretched arms, revealing the dazzling form of the weapon Shizu was holding at that very moment. In amazement of her inhuman ability, Rin faltered for a minute, causing the weapon to fall to the dust covered ground with a light clatter. She then helplessly looked up towards Shizu in desperate need of some guidance. Her weak, fearful eyes reflected the soul of a lost child, a child whose only hope seemed to lie in the person in front of them.

"Well, pick it up." Shizu instructed after a second, raising an eyebrow in confusion to Rin's incompetence with her weapon. Again, Rin did as she was told, gathering the weapon from the dirt and into her fear shaken hands, trying her best to copy what Shizu had just demonstrated earlier.

"Good girl." Shizu praised with an unusual warm smile, "though I have to say, I think it's quite lame that are weapons look exactly the same, I mean yeah we look alike but that doesn't mean are weapons have to, geez." She became dead silent for a second before proceeding with her instructions, her voice now becoming that of a leader,

"Alright Rin, here's the plan, I'll hold this group of lunatics off while you free your cousin and the others, now remember what that red head said about these weapons being able to cut through almost anything, well if this really is a "death scythe", then you should be able to cut through both those ropes and those chains with complete ease." And once Shizu had finished giving her orders, Rin nodded, in hopes to show Shizu she knew exactly what she was supposed to do, Shizu in turn gave her a haughty smirk before turning to the seemingly hostile crowd in front of her, in their arms, they grasped the large wooden sticks they had been holding earlier, readying themselves for Shizu to attack. Rin waited for a quick second before turning to the defenseless group behind her, an abrupt feeling of fear coming up behind her, clutching her body tightly in what felt like a great hug. Though Rin had been taught by Shizu herself to listen to such fear, she ignored it for the time being as she made her way over towards her cousin and the rest of the servants, her blade cutting their bindings as if they were nothing but delicate string.

"Alright then, listen up you crazed bunch of animals, I have something I want to say!" Rin could hear Shizu began to declare as she finished helping the servants out from their tight binding, the chokingly strong feeling of fear still lingered within her, seeming to take a form all of its own within Rin, replacing the emptiness Shizu left behind, "Now, don't even try to attack me, it honestly will do you no good, and speaking of honesty, why don't I just get this off my chest." She cleared her throat before continuing, "I hate all of you, especially, um, you!" She then could be seen pointing her razor ended weapon towards Lord Barrymore, his eyes wide in both fear and surprise as Angela could be seen with the same expression, a delicately bruised hand held over her mouth.

"How dare you!" Screamed Lord Barrymore, his powerful voice sent shivers down Rin's spine, but it didn't seem to touch Shizu's, for she held the same arrogant pose, seeming completely unfazed by anything Lord Barrymore had to throw at her, the complete opposite of her former host.

"How dare _I, _you do realize that's coming from a guy who tried to murder a poor defenseless creature with its own kind, honestly what has this world come to?" Shizu seemed to ask herself as she brought her weapon down form between Lord Barrymore's eyes, she then began to walk towards the left of the gathering, evidently mindful that she held them by their fear, like constricted animal collars that only she held the leashes to, and she could make them even tighter if they chose to test her.

"You!" Hissed Lord Barrymore, " I think I finally understand who the real "bad dog" is here, don't think you will be getting away with this alive!" And with that, Rin knew that Lord Barrymore had made a grave mistake, and she finally understood the binding fear that now seemed to laugh in her face as an "I told you so" in punishment for ignoring it before, for what Lord Barrymore did not know about Shizu, was that she would gladly jump at the chance to fight to the death, for both girls knew, that Shizu would be the one to emerge form that fight victorious, everyone else, would be immediately proclaimed "dead". Shizu stopped dead in her tracks, the silence that followed her unexpected cease in movement held the crowd by their breath, the final, strangling tug on the already close-fitting collar of fear.

"Oh, I see, was that a challenge I just heard?" Shizu asked, her voice taunting anyone to dare step forward and confront her.

"Shizu, no." Rin whispered anxiously under her breath, horrified at the monster she had just released into the open.

"Personally, I think it's you who will not be getting away with this alive!" Shizu declared as she lunged forward into the crowd, her both deadly weapon and gaze directed at Lord Barrymore and Angela.

"Shizu stop!" Rin screamed in desperate hopes to get her 'parasite's" attention. The moment just after Rin's frightful plea, happened so quickly, Rin didn't even have time to breath.

"Hey, get out of my way!" Shizu commanded hastily to the dark figure in front of her.

"Hmm, so it would seem the parasite has been given the gift of her own body." Sebastian mused as he turned his head to glance at her, he then looked to be examining her body for a second before replying, "But it looks to me that this body, or maybe perhaps the girl herself, lacks any sort of dignity." And in her haste, Rin hadn't really noticed how high Shizu's dress when up to her knee, exposing the soft, pale skin both her and Shizu possessed. Rin heard it was taught to be quite improper of a lady to show that much skin in public.

"Listen here you pig!" Shizu began, but was interrupted by the demanding question of Lord Barrymore towards Sebastian,

"Hey, where did you come from?"

"Hell." Rin thought she could hear Shizu respond in a faint whisper, before Sebastian politely responded with,

"Oh, I do apologize for my absence, I was just running a couple of errands for my master and I just happened to hear of a grave disturbance in the town so I thought I would offer my help." And Shizu scowled at Sebastian's allusion of her.

"Speaking of which, you're late." Ciel dispassionately pointed out as he stood next to Rin.

"My apologies, Young Master." Sebastian responded as he turned to face his master.

"The farce ends here, Barrymore." Ciel announced, bringing the original reason of why they were here back into the light, "People of the village, listen to me, there is no demon hound, there's only that pathetic old man obsessed with power!"

"Wh-what do you base that on?" Barrymore came forward with a stutter.

"This." Sebastian could be heard replying from the far left of Rin and his master. Everyone's eyes were now on Sebastian as he carefully ripped a particularly familiar dog skull from the mouth of one of the docile dogs that sat at attention, waiting for its next command, "It was in the basement of your manor." He began to explain as he held the skull out for everyone to see, " I've already confirmed that the teeth match the marks on James." Loud, puzzled gasps from the gathering in front of them could then be heard in response to Sebastian's analysis.

"Behold." Sebastian then held his hand out to the dusty, grey sky as the gathering in front of him turned their heads to see what he was gesturing to. There in the sky was the same silhouette of the large dog head Rin had seen the night before upon her curtains, she was now intriguingly eager to see how it now got into the sky.

"This is the demon hound's true form." Sebastian began again, "His shadow is nothing but a projection, it's just a transparent trick, the glowing is phosphor, he merely sprinkled it on a normal dog."

"The demon dog is an illusion produced by a single person, and that person is you, Henry Barrymore." Ciel finished for his butler.

"N-nonsense, where is the proof?" The man in question asked frantically and upon hearing the soft footsteps from next her, Rin turned to see Sebastian making his way over towards the once "bad dog" who now lie motionless on the cold, dirty ground, his fur masked in deep red sores and grey dust. Sebastian knelt beside the poor creature and gently whispered,

"Give it to me, your duty is done." And the dog, providing no unnecessary fuss, let Sebastian take the item he had originally protected within his mouth.

"It is fine cloth." Sebastian examined out loud to his spectators as he stood up, "This is the reason he hung on to it to the last." He then held the item out closely towards Lord Barrymore, and in turn, Barrymore receded in what seem to be the result of unforgiving defeat,

"T-that's…" Barrymore was barely able to gather his words together before Sebastian picked them up for him,

"Yes, it's a scrap of your trousers, from when he bit your leg trying to protect James." Rin looked toward Barrymore, and she could tell by the way his eyes almost popped from his head in irritable downfall, that this, was the final blow. He stood there trying his best to keep his cool, before deciding to run into the crowd. The crowd however, wasn't going to let him get away that easy, and in response, they started to enclose in on him.

"So you killed James?" Rin heard the aggressive screams of the crowd begin to bubble up, " There was no demon hound, you tricked us!"

"Give it up, you're finished!" Ciel proclaimed loudly, his voice trying to reach the ears of Lord Barrymore over the violently burning cries of the crowd. The crowd's anger began to overflow to the point of no return and Rin watched as it lifted Barrymore into the air; their weapons that now enveloped him up there, replaced the crowd's human appearance and instead, revealed its true appearance, its true nature. The crowd then proceeded to take its prey somewhere only it had in mind, its cries could be heard interspersing with Barrymore's useless plea for help.

* * *

"You're an amazing dog, to think you tried to protect your master to the end." Rin listened as Finni softly praised the poor, unmoving creature that lay victim to senseless cruelty. Rin felt her heart begin to sink within her chest as she thought about the terrible things that crowd had done to the poor beast, blindly thinking it was the right thing to do when in fact, it was the exact opposite.

"You worked so hard, you worked so hard." Finni cried tearfully as she held the motionless beast within his arms.

"This is why I hate dogs." Sebastian stated with a look of distaste and with that, Rin felt the tiny, cold droplets of rain come forth from the dull, colorless sky above, it's appearance seemed quite fitting for the melancholy atmosphere that began to take up its own shape around them.

* * *

A sudden, harsh scream sent Rin, her maid, and Shizu down the cold, dimly lit basement of the Barrymore manor, their hurried footsteps causing loud echoes throughout the basement's walls as they made their way down the stairs. Quickly spotting her cousin in front of one of the massive prison cells, Rin hurried over to where he was standing, followed by both her maid and her "parasite" When Rin finally joined her group, the first thing she noticed was the dark, empty cell that should have otherwise been filled with the presence of Lord Barrymore. The sturdy bars that had separated the prisoner form the outside world were sliced in half, as if they had been nothing more than frail twigs to their opponent. "Lord Barrymore." Came the vague, but terrified whisper of Angela form behind Rin. An abrupt, loud knocking could then be heard throughout the manor, disturbing the once, ominous silence that made itself known in respect for Barrymore's atypical death.

* * *

The great demon hound!" The man cried as he came falling inwards on his hands and knees into the manor, the Phantomhive group along with Angela stood encircling him.

"Demon hound?" The group asked in synchronization.

* * *

"The White Dog is a good dog, the disobedient Black Dog is a bad dog." Came the familiarly eerie chant as it tried to harmonize itself with disruptive crashes of thunder that could be heard throughout that demoralizing evening. The group that consisted of both man and beast could be heard singing, their expressionless voices sounding as if they were one. Rin, and the rest of her group had been standing their, horror struck, as the violently maimed body of Lord Barrymore had greeted them upon their arrival, the sight only forgotten for a minute before illuminated by another flash of lightning. Ciel had sent his butler over to examine the corpse, and by now, the loud cries of the group could be heard begging for repentance from the demon hound and Angela, struck from both grief and dreadfulness, fainted. Her fragile body fell quietly upon the cold ground with nothing but a loud thud to alert her group that she had fallen.

"Angela!" Finni cried rushing over to her aid, bringing her gently into his arms.

* * *

"It's a shame, young master, after you'd already declared that this case was closed." Sebastian stated with a conceited smirk as the group of servants including, Rin, her maid and Shizu stood around the well sized table that sat only her cousin, Rin again was offered a seat but politely declined the offer, she felt more comfortable standing. The room around her was brightly lit, decorated with both weaponry and picture frames, the wall a rich gold color, a color that reminded her of both royalty and power.

"Shut up." Ciel remarked, "Where is Angela?"

"I put her to bed for now, but she seems very tired, yes." Mey-Rin replied humbly.

"It's too painful to watch." Bard Roy remarked with a tired breath.

"This village was completely isolated from the rest of society, out of fear of the hound's curse." Ciel began grimly, his look as callous and desolate as ever, " I thought we established that the hound was faked by Lord Henry so he could rule here, but now, Lord Henry has…" Ciel let his words trail from his lips.

"Are you sure those bite wounds, really weren't from the demon hound like the villagers say?" Bard asked in suggestion.

"Maybe he's mad at being blamed for all of Lord Henry's bad deeds!" Mey-Rin added in proposition as well.

"Well, I think we can say for sure that no human did this at least." Sebastian calmly concluded.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bard asked sounding anxious.

* * *

Rin sat to the far left of her bed, her legs hanging loosely over the edge, her feet almost touching the cold wooden ground. The room around her was pitch black making it hard to identify anything or anyone that was around her. Her maid had just helped her get into her clean, white nightgown and now she was just waiting for Shizu to walk her way so she could ask her the same question she had been meaning to ask ever since she had witnessed her former "parasite" obtain her own form, the curiosity clouded her senses, and now, this was the only thing she could think of, this one, burning red question.

"S'up?" Came the long awaited voice of the girl in question, Rin could feel the question now making its way up to her lips, she struggled to keep it back for a few more seconds.

"What is, "S'up?"" Rin decided to ask instead.

"Never mind, you dork." Shizu chuckled as she came to sit next to Rin; she stared at her for second as if studying her, before replying,

"You know, it's weird to see your actual face, I actually never thought I would have my own body."

The question leaped forward before warning Rin of its sudden jump, "Shizu, can I ask-"

"You want to know how I obtained my own body, don't you princess?" Shizu asked instead, interrupting Rin's thought.

"Y…yes, if that's not too much trouble." Rin nodded timidly.

"Geez, even outside of your body, I still know what your going to ask." Shizu gently laughed, "Well, I'm not sure there is much to tell you since, I honestly have no idea."

"Y-you have no idea?" Rin asked in a stutter, Shizu's response surprising her.

"Yup." Shizu answered bluntly, "It was like first I was still inside your mind, then I must have dozed off or something, and when I woke up, I had a body of my own and you were standing right next to me." Rin then she thought she saw Shizu's dark form shrug its shoulders, creaking the bed slightly with its slight weight shift.

* * *

"Today's tea features a cabinet pudding made with local blackberries." Sebastian introduced as he placed Ciel's breakfast in front of him as his master sat in front of a considerably lengthy table dressed in a beautifully white tablecloth, Rin to his right, and the only other servants that joined them were Bard Roy and Tanaka.

"You're certainly carefree." Rin heard Ciel remark at his butler's seemingly unusual behavior.

"There is no need to rush." Sebastian responded simply. Just then, the door leading to the outside came bursting open and both Finni and Mey-Rin came pouring in calling Sebastian's name quite urgently.

"What is it, you're making a fuss?" Sebastian asked sternly.

"We can't find Angela anywhere!" Finni cried as both servants came to stand in front of the table across from Rin.

"Oh, she said there were some medicinal herbs growing by the fen, so she was going to pick them." Bard Roy replied quite simply despite his comrades strained behavior.

"She went to the fen by herself?" Finni asked sounding quite concerned.

"When there might really be a demon hound lurking about?" Mey-Rin finished for her friend.

"Well, unless the demon hound went with her." Shizu joked inappropriately.

"Oh hell!" Bard gasped in realization of the situation Angela might have been in.

"Why would she be picking herbs at a time like this?" Finni seemed to ask himself.

"Oh, well, it looked like she was worried about how pale you were." Bard mentioned, and Rin could feel within her gut this would just add more wood to the already raging fire at hand.

"She did it for me?" Finni asked in disbelief at Angela's kindness, and with that, Finni turned around and ran out the door.

"Let's go, Sebastian!" Bard called out as her started to run after Finni.

"Sigh." Sebastian simply replied to Bard's command and in turn, Bard turned to glare at him, a lone cigarette hanging from his lips,

"What's wrong with you, are you a red-blooded man or what?" Bard asked furiously, "Never mind, let's go, Mey-Rin." Bard finally gave in to Sebastian's stubbornness.

"Yes sir!" She replied enthusiastically as they turned to exit the room,

"Where's old man Tanaka?" Bard asked almost forgetting a part of their team and Rin glanced down to see old man Tanaka in what looked to be hunting gear marching in place.

"He's on board, right, let's go!" Bard commanded his team eagerly.

"Yes sir!" Mey-Rin replied once more.

"Ho, ho, ho." Tanaka replied as usual as he continued to march in place, and with that, they finally headed out the door in search of their friend, leaving the rest of the group in utter silence at last.

"Finally, those three are gone." Shizu commented after a moment of taciturnity, and Rin watched as Ciel took one more bite of his breakfast, and after gently wiping his face with his napkin, he turned to his butler and with a disturbingly amused smile asked,

"Well, what color _is _your blood?" Then, looking down at his plate he declared, "It looks as though we've developed a need to rush." And in response, Sebastian sighed disheartened.

"Put on a first rate show for me, Sebastian." Ciel ordered with another unusual smile.

"Yes, My Lord." Sebastian replied distantly.

* * *

"Hey, what's the big idea, Rin, why are we out here before your brat of a cousin, weren't we supposed to come out here together?" Shizu complained loudly, her arms crossed across her chest, her face a familiar scowl, and her eyes reflected that of the dreary atmosphere around them, misty and unforgiving, but yet, holding a sort of spark.

"Yeah, but I wanted to be the first one out here, to do some exploring!" Rin replied innocently, her arms out wide as she tried balancing on her two feet which kept getting stuck in the thick mud, her face a minute smile, her eyes were bright, reflecting the exact opposite of their surroundings, clear and always cheerful, always hopeful.

"M'lady, please be careful." Utsuho warned as Rin was about to make a face plant into the mud just below her, it was getting quite hard to see as the copious fog around them kept growing and growing.

"Hey, aren't those the dorky servants?" Shizu suddenly asked, pointing a finger at four familiar but hazy figures a few feet in front of them, they looked to be hiding behind a considerably large boulder that stood smack in the middle of the forest, black, withered trees surrounded it on every end, most of them bent in half or completely devastated by an even more powerful force.

"What the heck are they doing behind that rock?" Shizu asked dumbfounded.

"I'll go see!" Rin offered instantly as she started to run towards the gathering in front of her, eager to share in the experience they were having.

"No, you idiot." Shizu hissed silently, but it was too late, Rin had joined their group, though they seemed to be quite unaware of her presence, as they didn't even bother to glance her way. They were all particularly engrossed in whatever was in front of that boulder.

"What could be so fascinating, they can't even bother to look somewhere else?" Shizu asked herself as she felt a swift wind whip past her and watched as Rin's maid made her way for the boulder as well.

"Fine, whatever, I guess I'll have to check it out now." Shizu groaned angrily to herself, "This better be worth it."

Shizu had finally made it to the back of the boulder, her black heels caked with dried mud and her pigtails frizzled from the humidity.

"Alright you guys, what are you so interested in that you can't even bother to glance my way?" And glancing over the sturdy, towering rock form, she saw nothing but mounds of dirt with a large assortment of human limbs peeking out from each of the heaps.

"Well, I guess that's something you don't' see everyday, but seriously guys, is it that really that engrossing.?" Shizu sighed, but then, something caught the edge of her eye. This something looked human at first, and at closer glance, it actually was human, ash grey hair, bright red eyes, but there was something different about him.

"Oh great, this is totally something I needed to see today, really guys, you all are a bunch of perverts absorbing yourself in…. nudity." The last word came out with a shiver. Unable to take in anymore of the scene in front of her, she looked to her right and saw that the the group of servants were now conversing with each other, they seemed to be discussing Angela, the blonde gardener, Finni, seemed to be in quite a distressed fluster about the woman. Shizu already becoming bored of their conversation turned to her left to and saw that both Rin and Utsuho were still absorbed in the indecent stranger, but Shizu could guess Rin couldn't see much with her maid's hand shrouding her eyes.

A massive vibration from beneath her feet distracted Shizu and the rest of her group for a moment, causing them all to glance behind them as a massive cloud of smoke came racing towards them, the cloud dispersing as it came closer to them, revealing another large gathering of both man and beast, the human side of the group looked to be dressed in wet suits.

"Why are you all dressed like that?" Bard asked questioning the group's strange attire.

"We're all going to stand under the waterfall to ease the demon hound's wrath." A person form the group explained to the uninformed group.

"Well personally, if I were the demon hound, this defiantly would not ease my wrath." Shizu remarked brusquely.

"The great demon hound's voice echoed through the air last night." Declared a sickly old woman who clung to the broad shoulders of one of the gentleman in the gathering.

"He howled all night long." Added another man as he came forward to the front of the group.

"Howled?" Asked the red headed maid interestedly, and the gardener, who obviously seemed to know something about all this, ran off yet again into the mist-veiled forest.

"Hey, Finni, wait?" Called the chief who received no answer in return for his efforts, and in the end, all three servants decided to chase after their love stricken gardener.

"Heh, I guess this means we'll have to go too then." Shizu smirked, not exactly looking forward to painstakingly trudge through even more dense puddles of mud.

* * *

The three girls followed the group of inept servants to what looked to be the broken down remains of a village deep within the woods, the howl of a large dog could be heard echoing throughout the forest upon their arrival, as if welcoming them. The servants up ahead of them seemed to freeze where they were in what could only be presumed as fear.

"Look Shizu, a really big puppy!" Rin chimed excitedly as she pointed up a little ways from where the group of servants stood

"Dude, there are tons of dogs-" Shizu immediately froze as the fog in front of them began to clear itself away, as if running form the massive, white haired beast in front of them,

"That's no puppy, that is at least a dog." Shizu gulped as a dazzling light started to form within the dog's mouth.

"Is that fire?" Rin asked still sounding way too excited despite the current situation they were in.

"That's crazy, dog's can't spit fire, even if they are the size of a small house." Shizu tried to assure the group with her humor, but her efforts ended up being in vain as the dog's bright red eyes stared viscously at the two groups before him.

"It's the demon hound!" Screamed the servants in unison, and with only a fear inducing growl as warning, the sizeable beast started to charge its way towards the two small groups in front of him, the two groups only insignificant roadblocks in his path. Both groups' shrill screams could then be heard throughout the forest as the beast made its way closer and closer, it massive, sharp claws tearing up the ground below it. A closer glance at the beast's foot revealed what looked to be a torn piece of cloth hanging loosely from the middle of his claw, the cloth swayed violently in the breeze as the beast continued to charge.

"It's Angela's…!" Shizu heard Finni gasp in horror, and with that, the kid was off again, running straight for the malevolent hound that also had its sights on him.

"What is it, Finni, Finni?" Bard screamed hurriedly into the mist after him.

"That kid is crazy!" Shizu marveled as she watched the miniscule, but extremely powerful boy tightly grip the leg of the beast, holding on for dear life as the hound continued forward with great speed. The beast, then getting tired of his small hitchhiker, began to aggressively whip his leg back in forth, trying to remove his unwanted passenger, the cloth still loosely hanging from his claws. The boy in turn, did his absolute best to stay on, as his loud cries could be heard cutting in and out ever so slightly as the dog continued with his malevolent method of trying to dispose of the boy.

"Shizu, we've got to help him!" Rin commanded frantically.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Shizu replied trying her best to come to grips with her anxiety at the moment, she really didn't have time to deal with another person's problems.

"Oh hell, let me borrow this thing!" Bard ordered as he angrily ripped the riffle Tanaka held from out of his hands, and kneeling on the ground, he proceeded to press the trigger. The shot however, was not as mind-blowing as it probably would have been due to the fact that this gun, only shot out confetti and party streamers.

"Crap, fine, I guess it's my turn now!" Shizu hissed angrily as she summoned her weapon, and as she held it magnificently in the air she proclaimed, " I shall be the one to slay you foul beast!" and with those words, she was off towards the dog that had yet to be bored of toying with the fragile form of the boy.

"Stupid demon, I'll show you who's boss!" Shizu screamed from the feet of the great beast as she leaped into the air to meet the fiend eye to eye. Quickly, while the dog still hadn't noticed she was directly next to him, she swung at the arm that held the boy, causing a large gash to appear within his thick fur. The beast let out a loud howl of pain right before dropping the boy. The boy would have fallen quite hard upon the ground if it hadn't been for Shizu catching him in her arms effortlessly.

"Thank you so much for catching me, Miss Shizu!" The boy replied with a grateful smile as Shizu felt her eye twitch slightly at the name before responding,

"Yeah, don't mention it kid." And with that, Shizu let him down on his own two feet, while the beast proceeded to howl for a little while longer. A towering, obscure shadow suddenly enveloped the group as they all looked above them to see that the demon hound was now hovering menacingly above them, large drops of blood dripping from his injured leg.

"That's not good." Shizu commented as the beast raised its paw in preparation for a bellicose slash he seemed to direct right at Shizu.

"Oh great, nude men and a violent death, this day couldn't get any better could it?" Shizu whined as she heard Rin scream her name in panic. Shizu prepared her weapon for battle, but in the end, it was not needed.

"What the heck are _you_ doing here?" Shizu asked angrily as Sebastian stood in front of her holding the beast's massive paw in his own smaller, humanoid hand.

"Dear me, you're quite good at "Shake hands."" Sebastian complimented the beast, clearly paying no mind to Shizu; the dog's body shook furiously in the hands of Sebastian, "Though you are a bit heavy." And taking the dog by the paw, Sebastian effortlessly lifted him upwards and threw him across the forest, the dog in turn landed with a crash against some of the run down ruins causing clouds of smoke to rise up in the air.

"Come, this is no time to be romping around together!" Called the voice of Rin's haughty cousin.

"Young master!" The servants cried out in both relief and bewilderment.

"Of course not, I shall take care of everything at once." Sebastian promised.

"So are none of you going to comment on the fact that, oh I don't know, the butler threw a thousand pound dog across the forest with ease?" Shizu screamed acting as if she was the only one with common sense, which in reality, she might have been, but in return, no one replied.

The smoke cleared and the form of the giant beast could be seen yet again. His bright red eyes died down to a dull black and he began to sniff the air.

"Smells irresistible, doesn't it?" Sebastian asked tauntingly, "This is what you want, right?" Sebastian then pulled out a small box of dog treats and presented it to the large animal,

"It's what dogs make a beeline for, Inukko, the treat you want everyday." Sebastian explained to the beast as well as to the group behind them.

"Inukko?" The three servants asked in unison and Shizu watched in disgust as large puddles of drool began to drip from the dog's mouth, and without warning, the dog happily leaped forward towards the treats, as well as the person who presented them. Sebastian waited for the dog to come, and Shizu knew instinctively he had something up his sleeve for this fiend.

"Look out!" Cried the red headed maid anxiously.

"The best way to tame a dog is to bend its will and force obedience, in other words, awards and punishments!" Sebastian stated calmly as he continued to stand where he was for the moment. "Then, leaping into the air, he attached himself to the dog's snout, the dog letting out a small cry of confusion in response to Sebastian's unusual actions.

"Wh-what is that demon doing?" Shizu asked in bewilderment as Sebastian began to chew on the end of the beast's nose,

"Is that how they pet their dogs?" Shizu asked sounding quite uncomfortable, the beast above of her feeling the exact opposite. The dog landed upon the earth with a heavily vibrating thud as Sebastian continued to pamper his new pet.

"U-uh…." The group behind Shizu stuttered, their only way of knowing how to react to the current situation. Shizu continued to observe the two demons in front of her as Sebastian made another leap into the air, the dog in turn looked up, more then likely waiting for more pampering, but his master had other plans as he came down heavily for a swift kick to the dog's face, landing him just a few feet away in another, lighter cloud of dust. As Sebastian continued with his "Punishment, reward" ordeal, the whole crowd, including his usually indifferent master, was quite impressed with the feat before them.

"And finally, hugs!" Sebastian conclusively proclaimed as he ran up to the beast with arms outstretched, and just when Shizu thought it was done, the demon brought his pet up, high into the air with him before releasing him and Shizu watched as the once vicious, unbeatable beast was now falling from the sky looking quite overpowered. The beast landed with another large crash to the earth, this time, causing double the amount of dust to escape into the atmosphere. When the copious amounts of dust dispersed into nothing but a slight fog, the whole group could see a massive crater in the middle of the broken down ruins where the massive beast lay defeated.

"Sebastian!" Cried the group of incompetent servants as they made their way towards the hollow crater. Shizu stayed where she was because she already figured Sebastian would be fine, he unfortunately always was.

Shizu glanced over towards the crater with amusement as she felt a large pulsation come from within the earth, like that of an earthquake. Seconds later, a great stream of boiling hot water came exploding upwards from the hole as the whole gathering in front ran for cover from the water's burning touch. Shizu strolled calmly over to feel the water; it felt like oddly nice when the warm heat touched her cool skin.

"Hey, is this a hot spring?" Bard asked curiously, his strong shout overpowering the sound of the raging water flowing forward from the earth.

"I say, where is Sebastian?" The small gardener asked worriedly and if to answer his question, there came a familiar voice form the other side of the restless fountain of water,

"What a resort needs is a tourist attraction to be its centerpiece." The voice started to explain, "A way to luxuriate in abundant hot water and soothe the fatigue of everyday life, that is what we have here: a hot spring." And with his final words, the top of the coursing fountain started to fan out, creating a sort of podium for Sebastian to stand upon.

"Sebastian!" Happily cheered the group of servants.

"Oh joy." Shizu mockingly cheered as she rolled her eyes. Sebastian then started make his way gracefully down form the very top of the fountain, landing gently back onto the ground with ease holding what looked to be that man Shizu had seen earlier, a large cut on one of his arms revealed him to be the demon hound she had wounded earlier,

"A Phantomhive butler who can't strike a hot spring or two isn't worth his salt." Sebastian stated to the group, the man, in response to Sebastian's statement, began to lick him on the cheek.

"Aww geez you guys, at least make him turn back into a dog before deciding to do something like this!" Shizu yelled as she covered her eyes, her cheeks burning with discomfiture.

"Pluto!" Came the delicate scream of the Barrymore maid as she came running over to the Phantomhive group, the said Pluto in response, came cheerfully running from Sebastian's arms and into the arms of Angela.

"Eww gross, I don't if this scene is worse of better than that last one." Shizu commented as the man continued to lick his friend happily.

"Oh dear, you hurt you dear Pluto?" Angela asked concerned as she examined the cut on his arm, and Shizu couldn't help but shift her eyes suspiciously to the side without a reply.

* * *

"I found him last month." Angela began to explain to her audience of listeners, "I love dogs, and he was so adorable, I just had to feed him."

"Yes, but you couldn't bother to dress him?" Shizu asked still feeling quite awkward at the indecent man who had fallen asleep upon Angela's lap. The sky around them was a bright; orangey-yellow that turned the distant figures of the forest into black silhouettes. The warm heat flowing from the hot spring in front of the assembly turned the cool night air into a slightly muggy, but comfortable atmosphere.

"He has a bad habit of turning human when he gets too excited, but.." Angela let her words fad out for a moment as if from shame.

"Don't' just brush it off as a "habit"" Bard screamed angrily.

"And so you kept him without telling anyone?" Sebastian asked ignoring Bard's outburst.

"Yes, Lord Barrymore was using the legend of the demon hound, but in truth, he feared the hound more than anything, when I thought of what might happen to him if my lord found him, I see I was too indulgent, I never thought the little fellow would hurt Lord Barrymore." Angela explained with a loving smile as she looked down at Pluto who still continued to sleep while she talked, the man then let out a small cry of delight.

"Please, would you be kind enough to keep him at your estate my lord?" Angela desperately begged and Shizu looked over to see Sebastian's eyes widen with fear, and she felt herself chuckle at his discomfort.

"K-keep him at the estate?" Bard asked in shock.

"At Sebastian's side, perhaps even Pluto could become a good, faithful dog!" Angela stated, pushing her deal even further into the center of space.

"No, you see, I am merely one hell of a butler…"Sebastian began, but was interrupted by his master,

"Why not?" Ciel questioned, considering the possibility of having a large dog.

"Yes!" Shizu giggled quietly under her breath, she liked the fact that both the little brat and her were on the same page of making Sebastian's life miserable. She looked over at Sebastian who was now glaring at the two of them.

"Do you mean that, young master?" Sebastian hissed.

"Yes, it sounds amusing in several ways." Ciel replied with a smile as he glanced in Sebastian's direction and Sebastian sighed in defeat. Shizu felt another pulsation beneath her feet and looked behind her to see another cloud dust making its way towards them.

The great demon hound's curse has been lifted!" A cheerful voice from the cloud declared as an assembly of humans came forward from within the cloud and knelt upon the ground in front of the hot spring.

"Thank goodness, thank goodness." They all sang in harmony.

"Hey, what is this about?" Ciel inquired, referring to the group of people kneeling on the ground in praise to the ever-rising fountain.

"My lord, there is a legend in this village, that when the sins of our ancestors against dogs are fully atoned for, the land will weep tears of forgiveness."

"These are tears of blessing!" The tearful voice of an older woman stated and silent cheers jumped in to join her statement.

"This village had this hot spring all along, though." Sebastian responded sounding vaguely puzzled.

"Well, no matter, we've accomplished our goal." Ciel dismissed conclusively.

"Shouldn't you declare now that line you so clumsily let slip earlier?" Sebastian questioned with an egotistical smile.

"You do it." Ciel commanded angrily.

"Case Closed!" Sebastian declared showily as he raised his left hand into the air with his index finger pointed to the sky.

"Very good, now can we go?" Shizu questioned irritably impatient.

* * *

They filled up the phaetons once again, this time with two new members.

"Pluto, if you're going into town, put some clothes on, don't just swing in the breeze!" Bard and Shizu screamed in unity, they both in turn received an exasperated glare from Pluto. Rin gazed from behind her carriage to observe the light kiss that was placed upon Finni's cheek by Angela.

"Eww gross." Shizu commented as she suddenly appeared beside Rin, her words sounding as if they were from a young, naïve little boy.

"I don't know, I think it's kind of cute." Rin unintentionally argued back, her words sounding as if they were from a young, naïve little girl.

"Whatever." Shizu sighed as she walked back over to her end of the carriage. Rin sat there for a moment, placing her elbows upon the edge of the carriage as she wondered what it would be like to be kissed.

"Well then, shall we be off?" Sebastian asked both groups of phaetons, abruptly releasing Rin from her cliché delusion.

"I'll certainly come to visit Pluto soon." Rin heard Angela declare as she came to sit next to Shizu, the sits of the carriage become slightly even more packed in as more people were being added.

"Oh boy, can't wait." Shizu replied sarcastically to Angela's proclamation.

"I whish I could refuse." Rin heard the voice of Sebastian speak up.

"What?" Angela inquired puzzled.

"Not many people could tame a demon hound, you seem to have a talent for making lesser beings eat out of your hands." Sebastian explained to her, and a light chuckle of Shizu's could be heard from next to Rin, as if she understood what Sebastian was talking about.

"What does he mean?" Rin enquired of Shizu.

"Nothing to worry about now princess, nothing to worry about now." Shizu dismissed Rin's question.

"Let's go, Sebastian." Ciel commanded impatiently, and with that, the group was off, leaving the town of Houndsworth in their wake, the probability of never returning was very high.


	17. Noah's Ark Circus

***Author's Note*-Hello everyone, I'm back, and I have a few things I need to apologize for:**

**1\. Sorry this took so long, I am kind of busy with school work and art projects for Deviant Art, and plus, this chapter is like 6000+ words, not even including this author's note! But hey, I managed to knock out two episodes with one chapter! Woot! XD **

**2\. I am so sorry for people who wanted me to do the Soma and Agni Arc, I was originally thinking of doing it before this chapter, but then I'm like "Wait, the Agni and Soma Arc take place in the winter, and this one takes place in the summer, so I think I'll do this one first to keep the seasons even." But no, apparently, this arc also takes place in the winter as well! *cries* Also, while deciding which arc to do first, I totally forgot that the Soma and Agni arc comes before this one, at least I'm like 95% sure it does, and so I just kind of mentally face palmed myself. Though, I know not a lot of people like Soma and Agni, I for one actually quite like them, I think they're both so cute, but alas, they probably will not be in my ****fan fiction, why do I have to be such a perfectionist? Though, I say _probably _won't be in this fan fiction, I could possibly just make the Soma and Agni arc and just delete this chapter and place it at the end after I'm finished with the Soam and Agni Arc, but since that would be kind of confusing for some people, I will only do it if my viewers want me to, but you have to tell me _before I post my next chapter_, which will probably be in a while, but if you don't notify me before then, I am afraid I will not be able to put Soma and Agni in this fan fiction due to possible confusion and the fact that I'll already be too far into this Arc, I'm afraid that is just how it , I skipped a few other episodes in the anime, but they didn't really seem that important to my story line so I just cut them out. **

**3\. I am sorry for any grammar mistakes/any sentences that don't make actual English sense, (like maybe the one I just wrote. ^^;), I reread and edited this chapter both last night, and just before I posted it, but their is probably things that are out of whack or just don't make sense, and for that, I am sorry. **

**Anyways, thank you to all of you who have been viewing my fan fiction, I really appreciate it, and Followers, favs, and reviews are always appreciated as well! Have a wonderful day! ^^**

**And for those of you who are curious, here is the list, in order, of upcoming Arcs/episodes**

**1\. (Soma and Agni Arc) Noah's Ark Circus**

**2\. Drocell Episode**

**3\. Campania Arc**

**4\. 2nd Angela Arc**

**and I'll go about it from ****their, sorry for the confusion of adding some Manga arcs, but I absolutely love the Campania arc, and just had to put it in! **

Chapter 17: Noah's Arc Circus.

The fragments interspersing throughout the darkness of her mind, like a puzzle taken and thrown to the ground, its pieces scattering themselves under every nook and cranny, the part of a picture on each piece changing to something else, making it almost impossible to recreate the picture the original puzzle once made. That's what her memories felt like, once she thought she had obtained a piece of her original memory within her dreams, she would then awaken, and the memory of that memory would slip from her hands and shatter upon the ground of her subconscious mind, leaving a million more pieces upon the ground, those pieces mixing with other pieces or changing into new pieces so that when she went back to sleep, her unconscious mind could create another forgettable memory, that memory being either a true memory, or a memory created solely to try to soothe Rin's desires, it was hard to tell which was which, but either way, they would soon be forgotten upon Rin's awakening. She awoke again for what felt the hundredth time, her room still shrouded in the dark of the night with a hint of moonlight pouring in from her delicate curtains, white, crisp sheets enveloped her small body as she glanced up at her ceiling. After a moment or so, she rolled over on her side, trying to force her body back to sleep against its will, but her body's will was too strong and it would not go back to sleep. She finally decided to get up, and began gradually walking over towards her windows, she pulled open her curtains and began to stare at the moon's brilliant form, it's eye-like craters staring back at her, probably wondering why she wasn't in bed sleeping, for she wondered that as well. Rin finally became bored of staring at the bright, judgmental orb in the night sky as she made her way back to her disheveled bed. She lay face up on her bed for a few more minutes before her childish, sleepy mind began to make the idea of forming the sheets into one big, messy cave sound like a fun time, so she did just that.

* * *

"M'lady, it's time to awaken." Came the abrupt voice of Rin's maid, followed by a slightly muffled, but still quite dazzling light that penetrated through her fallen sheet cave. Rin felt her body start to come back to life, her head and body both ached, but she forced herself up anyways, the remnants of her imaginary cave sticking itself to her face, obscuring her vision form the outside world for a bit before her maid came and pulled the pile of bed fixings from her head and the light came rushing into her eyes all at once, and the vision of the real world finally became clear to her.

"Couldn't sleep, M'lady?" Utsuho asked with a smile as she held Rin's sheets over her head, and Rin nodded sleepily. Rin looked around her room once again, as if she had not yet made herself familiar with it, and then looked back up towards her maid with a question.

"Where's Shizu?"

"Oh, her, she's downstairs involuntarily helping Sebastian with the morning chores." Utsuho answered with a snicker.

"What about Ciel?" Rin asked, curious of her family's whereabouts at the moment.

"He's at a dance lesson, I'm terribly sorry M'lady, I let you sleep in so you missed the breakfast, but I can make you something if you would like?" Utsuho asked sounding quite shaky.

"Oh, that's fine, don't worry about it, um, maybe I can eat a little something." Rin dismissed with a comforting smile as she watched the anxiety drain from her maid's face.

* * *

"Shizu!" Rin called out called out excitedly as she made her way sneakily up beside her friend.

"What is it, princess?" Shizu asked irritably.

"Are you okay, Shizu?" Rin asked with disheartened concern.

"No, not really, I've been out all day taking care of the "garbage" that has been littering our back woods non stop, ugh, and those servants won't stop shouting for that stupid demon!" Shizu hissed loudly as she slapped her hands angrily down on the small table that sat in the middle of the servant's kitchen.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry." Rin replied, not quite sure how to solace her friend.

"Whatever, what did you want anyways?" Shizu asked dismissing her current conundrum.

"Well." Rin began, brightening herself back up, "I thought we could do something fun!"

"Fun, like what?" Shizu asked sounding almost disgusted as she pulled a small wooden chair from out of the servant's minuscule dining table and proceeded to take a seat in front of Rin, her face looking quite apathetic.

"Well." Rin began again as she presented Shizu with a neatly folded package of newspaper she had been hiding behind her back, the article on the front cover reading:

**Noah's Arc Circus in Town**

"Eww, a circus, those things are nasty, no thanks, why don't you take your maid?" Shizu spat as she started to stretch herself out in her chair.

"Well, I was going to take Utsuho as well, but I wanted you to come as well." Rin responded feeling quite depressed at Shizu's lack of interest in her idea.

"Why?" Shizu asked indifferently.

"Because I wanted to spend some time with you!" Rin replied with a big smile at the thought of spending quality time with her new friend.

"Nah, I'll pass." Shizu replied bluntly, putting an abrupt but clear ending to her and Rin's conversation, leaving Rin feeling quite saddened as she slowly started to make her way out from the servant's kitchen and away from Shizu's presence.

* * *

Rin lie alone atop her extravagantly large bed in the dim light of her bedroom, a considerably sizeable tower of books stacked next to her, books she had taken from Ciel's library while he sat with his new dinner guest down in the dining room below Rin's room. Rin hadn't felt much like socializing with Ciel's new guest, mainly because she had a feeling he wouldn't last long within the ominous walls of the Phantomhive manor,

So instead, she started to read a copy of _Bleak House _by _Charles Dickens _while she listened to the dinner's progress beneath her bedroom floor. Her usual, childish excitement had left her, as if it were an old friend, tired of putting up with her same old, annoying antics, though she wouldn't admit to it if you asked her, instead, she would only shroud her sadness in a mask of artificial happiness. As she continued her reading, Rin would occasionally get the sense that someone was watching her, spying on her almost, but when she turned to look out her window, the only thing that was revealed to be watching her at that moment would be the light grey sliver of the vibrantly shining moon. Rin finally felt the weight of exhaustion set into her eyelids, sleep beckoning to her body as she closed her book and began to lay her head gently upon her pillow, not even bothering to cover herself with even a thin sheet as she felt her subconscious mind start to take over once more, busying itself with the creation of Rin's memories in the form of dreams. The only thing to disturb Rin from her slumber was the shrill sound of a frightened scream from the dining room below her, and the barely audible voice of her younger cousin as he treated his visitant to the finest of the Phantomhive's hospitality.

* * *

The swift explosion of light within her softly closed eyes is what awoke Rin that morning.

"Good Morning M'lady, your cousin instructed I wake you early so that he may take both you and your friend some place special." Utsuho greeted once Rin had found the hidden energy within her body to sit up in her bed. Upon her awakening, she discovered that the large pile of blankets she had originally neglected and left neatly spread out on her mattress beneath her body, were now somehow covering her lap in another disheveled heap. Rin dismissed that fact with the assumption that she had just placed them over her body when she had awoken to the terrified scream of Ciel's guest, the thing that was particularly unusual however, was that her massive tower of books that originally lay atop her bed had now completely disappeared from her room, and the only book she held in her possession was the book she had been reading before she had gone to bed. Rin began to look frantically for the pile of missing books before her maid piped up and asked,

"M'lady, whatever are you looking for?"

"My books." Rin replied as she held her head over the underside of her bed, trying her best to depict their distinct shapes within the darkness below her.

"Well, where did you last see them?" Utsuho asked, trying to offer her services as she walked over towards Rin's bed to have a look herself.

"They were right on my bed, a whole pile, but now they're gone." Rin explained as she popped her head up to give Utsuho some room to look underneath her bed as well.

"Really, I didn't know you read." Utsuho replied causally.

"Oh, I don't know, it just looks fun. " Rin responded with a light giggle. Utsuho giggled as well as she took her head from underneath Rin's bed and replied,

"Well, I don't see them, maybe someone put them back."

"Really, was it you?" Rin asked, already assuming her answer would be no.

"No, not me, maybe it was Sebastian." Utsuho suggested as Rin felt herself shudder at the thought of Sebastian coming into her room in the dead of night, unbeknownst to her .

"I'm sorry to have to rush this M'lady, but I think we should save our little book hunt for when we get back, you can still bring that other book your holding though." Utsuho hurried her noble abruptly.

"Oh, okay." Rin nodded willingly as she proceeded to make her way out of her bed, her book still held tightly in her arms as if it were as important to her as her own child.

* * *

The first thing to greet them upon their exit form the Phantomhive's extravagantly arrogant mansion, was the early morning sun, hiding timidly behind the towering, deep green trees that surrounded the manor, its slow rise staining the sky a light yellow with shades of pale pink and purple, the air around them a mix of warm with a hint of a slight chill, the perfect late summer morning. The next thing to greet the group of Rin, her cousin, Shizu and both Rin and Ciel's main servants, were the group of minor servants who stood out in front of the group's designated phaeton, seeing both their old and new masters off as the small boy of a gardener helped with the gathering's minor assortment of luggage. Rin held tight to her book, questioning herself as to why this book was so important to her as she heard Sebastian speak up,

"How nice that the weather has cleared up, it's the perfect day for a circus!"

"A circus, that's where you're taking us?" Shizu asked infuriated and Rin could feel the excitement build up inside her once more, like a balloon filling with air, that air expanding the balloon until it can't take no more and in response, it finally bursts. Shizu looked over at Rin, her eyes blazing with anger, a look that gave Rin the idea that Shizu was blaming her for something, something she had not done or had not meant to do. Rin felt herself clutch her book even tighter against her chest, as if it were some form of a security blanket to her.

"Circuses are held in tents, the weather is irrelevant." Ciel responded to Sebastian's statement coolly as he began to make his way towards the awaiting carriage followed by his cousin and her irritable "parasite".

"You three." Ciel began pausing in the open doorway of the carriage, turning his gaze towards the three uninvited servants.

"Yes sir?" They asked nodding, waiting for Ciel's instructions.

"Look after this place while I'm gone." Ciel responded.

"Yes, M'lord!" Cried the three servants into the early morning sky. And with that, the group's carriage was off into the eventful town of London.

* * *

Rin sat adjacent to her younger cousin who was now reading a familiar looking letter, a letter that had most likely sent its owners on the journey they were on now, a journey to the circus. Rin tried her best to not make eye contact with her recent enemy who sat across from her, her arms crossed in front of her chest as she stared out the window next to her, her dark brown eyes alive with the fires of hatred, her face turned into a scowl. Rin looked down at her book instead, which sat quietly in her lap, she struggled with the idea of reading the book at that particular moment, though she really wanted to, she was afraid she would become nauseated from the tiny, black print mixed with the heavy bumps the carriage's large wheels kept tripping over.

"Where will you go first, My Lord?" Sebastian asked his master curiously after Ciel seemed to be finished with reading the letter. Sebastian sat contiguous to Shizu, which Rin had recently figured could also be the cause of Shizu's anger, bur she felt that was but a small portion of her "parasite's" rage.

"Hmm, first of all…." Ciel began.

* * *

"Hmm, it's very convenient that sir Arthur is out." Ciel mused to himself aloud as his gathering interspersed throughout the decently sized but darkened room that Rin had noticed earlier upon their arrival inside, a small, golden sign with the words "File Room" etched upon it, humbly naming the room as such. Towering shelves of books stood facing their guest's from the side, as they all seemed to be more interested in facing one another instead of the gathering in front of them. Rin had made her way between two of the bookshelves and was now examining a particular row when she heard a man, she had been introduced to before named Abberline, cry out,

"Please stop, if the Commissioner finds out…" The man's words trailed off in fear of the possible situation.

"Just make sure he doesn't then." Ciel replied to the man's crisis casually.

"Listen, this is the third floor, how did you get in here?" The man asked changing the subject.

"We walked." Shizu replied with her usual sarcasm.

"Well, Sebastian?" Ciel yelled into the rows of bookshelves.

"No bodies have been found that match the missing persons reports." Sebastian stated.

"We'll leave when you're finished copying and we might as well borrow the photos." Ciel replied to Sebastian's analysis.

"You can't do that!" declared Abberline anxiously.

"If you get found out, just say I took them." Ciel responded calmly.

"That'd get me into _more _trouble!" Abberline pointed out.

"Listen…. hmm, Underline, isn't it?" Ciel questioned himself on the man's name.

"It's Abberline!" The man corrected angrily.

"You've been a great help, we appreciate your cooperation." Ciel replied ignoring the man's correction on his own name. Rin then heard the faint_ clink_ of what Rin could only guess to be a small assortment of coins based on Abberline's next choice of words.

"I'm not for sale, I just want to do whatever it takes to bring them home!" Abberline cried out in irritation.

"Whatever it takes, eh?" Ciel repeated Abberline's question, "Very flexible of you, you have a bright future." And with that, Rin and the rest of her group made their way out of the room and back onto the streets of London, leaving Abberline with the small gift of a broom, and the instructions to begin cleaning the designated "File Room".

"It seems they're all still being treated as missing persons." Sebastian began as the meddling group made their way through the grey toned town of London. Rin's eyes darted excitedly from scene to scene as she listened to her cousin and his butler converse about the case at hand.

"By respectable society, perhaps, but someone in the underworld may have already disposed of them." Ciel answered as the group then made their way back into the small enclosure of a carriage.

"Will we be visiting _him_ again to find out, then?" Sebastian questioned his master as Rin felt the word "him" eerily make its way up and down her spine, giving her an obvious shiver. She had hoped that she would never have to see _him_ again, not after the incident where he had tried to kill her, but he was possibly the best lead on this case, so she would let her fear bubble up inside her until it burned if she had to, if only it helped her cousin solve this case.

"I'd rather not, but needs must." Ciel replied looking quite anxious himself, "Let's go." He then ordered as he tapped the top of his cane against the roof of the phaeton to signal the driver to start moving again.

"Very good." Sebastian smiled.

* * *

The sign loomed over them, its etched title barely readable due to the shadow that had tainted its already dark purple background. Rin could feel her heart rise to her throat as the group made their way into the darkened shop; the array of candles that littered the shop provided only so much light for the group to see by. To Rin, the candles seemed to act less as a source of light and more as a group of watchful eyes as they looked to be set in a specific pattern around the shop.

"Are you here, Undertaker?" Ciel called out into the candle lit shop. A spine tingling, but quite familiar laugh echoed throughout the shop, the tiny flames of the candles swaying along with it, as if his voice provided the only source of music for the small twinkles of light.

"Welcome, my lord, and little miss!" Came the voice that could only be from the one solely known as the Undertaker. Rin trembled at the Undertaker's title for her, as she looked over at Shizu's dark figure for some sort of support, but seemed to get none as Shizu in turn paid her no attention to her, she seemed instead to be more focused on what was happening in front of her. There was then a slight, traveling rumble upon the ground, the sound that could only be described as something rolling its way forward. A few seconds later, a skull like figure rolled itself between Ciel's legs and crashed into something that was hidden by the lingering darkness in the back of the room.

"Aww, now who is this you brought along with you, I don't believe I've been introduced to your new member?" The Undertaker's voice could be heard from behind them, ambushing them from the rear as they had all been distracted by the game of bowling the ambusher had set up for them.

"Heh, you place a single one of those cheap plastic nails on any part of my body, and I swear, I will rip them all off!" Shizu threatened with a venomous hiss.

"Oh my, you are quite a feisty one, aren't you, well, no matter, I quite like the energy radiating from your body." The Undertaker laughed with amusement.

"What did you just say?" Shizu dared the Undertaker to confront her.

"Ah, is today the day you'll condescend to enter on of my specially made coffins, my Lord?" The Undertaker asked Ciel, changing the subject and ignoring Shizu's challenge to fight.

"Look you-" Ciel began, turning his body around to face the Undertaker who stood cloaked in the darkness of his portentous shop.

"Please, have a seat, I have a batch of biscuits fresh from the oven." The Undertaker alternately requested of his gathering.

"Wait, where the heck would he have room to place an oven in here?" Shizu asked as she glanced around the candle lit room.

* * *

"Children's bodies, hmm?" The Undertaker pondered aloud as his dimly lit figure stood behind a large coffin that seemed to serve as a makeshift office desk, most of his audience stood in front of him, with the exception of Ciel who had taken a seat upon one of the coffins available to him, waiting like hungry dogs for any information relevant and possibly valuable to the case at hand.

"Regular society regards them as missing, and no corpses have turned up." Sebastian continued to inform the Undertaker.

"Well, dead children are an everyday affair in the underworld." Undertaker stated plainly despite the dismalness that surrounded the topic of "Dead Children". He then took a thin, bone-shaped biscuit from the tiny, silver colored container on his desk, and began to eat it.

"I'm sure you know that well, M'lord." The Undertaker commented, his mouth occupied by food. Ciel began to stand up, his voice unfazed by the Undertaker's grim words as he proclaimed to him and the rest of the gathering,

"I've brought their information, did you take care of any of these children?" and while he was spoke, Sebastian had provided the Undertaker with a small stack of papers to look over as he conducted his answer. The Undertaker leaned forward on his "desk" his chin rested upon its surface as his eyes glanced hungrily at the papers in front of him, a large grin present on his face.

"Hmm, did I?" The Undertaker asked, his tone sounding almost devious, he wanted something from them, and Rin could only guess one thing, "I feel as though I could remember, if I saw something entertaining."

" Oh no, not this again." Shizu groaned in frustration.

"You know what I want my lord, give it to me!" The Undertaker demanded eagerly, "Give me prime laughter, and I'll tell you anything!" he then began to sprawl himself across the desk, his hidden gaze aimed towards Ceil.

"Sebastian!" Ciel called for his butler hastily.

"Very well." Sebastian replied to his name.

"Oh come now my lord, not him again." The Undertaker whined as he lie on his back across his desk, "How about someone more creative?" And before Rin could even blink, The Undertaker was standing before both her and Shizu, his darkened body looming ravenously above them, his breath radiating the pungent smell of death as well as a faint scent of cinnamon, and Rin could feel her heart start to pound within her chest, as if it were trying to make a vain attempt at running from the Undertaker while still being contained within her chest.

"Ugh, can you not?" Shizu demanded, disgust filling her tone as she and Rin started to recede a few steps form the Undertaker's menacing form, careful not to trip of the assortment of candles that seemed to prevent both girls from making their escape form the Undertaker's request.

"Now come my dears, one of you must have a bit of "funny" in you." The Undertaker urged, drooling slightly from his lips.

"The only thing funny here is your futile attempt to try to get me to do what you want!" Shizu spat fearlessly back at him; the Undertaker then appeared to become uninterested in Shizu and turned his hungry gaze back at Rin.

"Well?" The Undertaker asked, seeming to know that Rin was more likely to do what he asked, but before Rin could open her mouth, Ciel opened his first, and with a thump of his slender can upon the ground he proclaimed,

"I'll do it!"

"Will you?" Rin heard Sebastian ask, not seeming at all surprised.

"You all get out, and _do not_ peek inside, that's an order!" Ciel commanded sternly as he turned to point angrily at the group in back of him, though Rin could sense a hint of embarrassment in his voice and actions.

"Yes, my lord." Sebastian humbly responded with a bow, and Rin could hear Shizu quietly snicker.

* * *

Night had set itself upon the now quiet town of London before the noise of a definite chuckle could be heard from inside Undertaker's shop. In response to this chuckle, the group made their way silently back into the dimly lit shop, each of their faces contained a different emotion in response to the situation.

"Ah, I never imagined the Earl Phantomhive would go that far!" Undertaker could be heard laughing as the rest of Ciel's gathering made their way back into the room. A thousand questions of what Ciel had done to achieve this almost impossible task took flight within Rin's mind as she glanced at her cousin's disheveled state.

"What in the world did you do?" Sebastian asked, Rin sensing his question would not be answered.

"Don't ask." Ciel replied dismissively. Rin then turned to look at her maid, who she had almost forgotten had a presence in this room as she heard Ciel order irritably,

"Shut it, you!" Rin then looked back out in front of her at the Undertaker as she heard Ceil speak up once more while Sebastian got him dressed,

"All right, I've paid your fee, tell me about the children!"

"They're nowhere." Undertaker replied bluntly, Rin guessing the show that Ceil had just put on earlier was now just in vain.

"Sorry?" The audience asked, hoping they misunderstood the Undertaker's words.

"None of them were my customers, and there aren't' any rumors, either." Undertaker clarified as he held up a single piece of paper from the stack in front of him and held it in front of his eyes, confirming the group had not misunderstood him.

"In other words, you don't know a thing about this?" Ciel asked, as we walked to the front of the Undertaker's desk and placed his hands gently upon it, the click of his heels echoing throughout the room.

"I beg to differ, I know that I _don't_ know." The Undertaker corrected straightforwardly as he held his paper out for Ciel to look at as well,

"True, if you don't know, that would mean no one in the underworld killed them." Sebastian replied.

"If their bodies haven't been found in either circle, they're still alive." Ciel began to conclude, "In which case, I suppose our only choice is to personally investigate that circus."

"Aww man, you can't be serious!" Shizu cried angrily disheartened. Then, seizing his cane that leaned lazily against the Undertaker's desk, Ciel began to turn himself in preparation for his and his group's departure from the shop,

"We'll go there straightaway, Sebastian!" Ciel commanded as he began to make his way towards the exit, his group following, "Undertaker, contact me if you hear anything."

"My Lord." The Undertaker suddenly spoke up, stopping the whole gathering at the door. Ciel then turned in his direction, waiting for him to explain his reasoning,

"Each of us only gets one soul, take good care of yours." The Undertaker could then be heard stating from the back of his shop.

"I know that." Ciel replied indifferently as they were all finally able to make their exit.

* * *

The brilliantly shining lights, the diverse scents of both savory and sweet foods, the bustling gathering of spectators excitedly conversing with one another, and the only thing that held Rin's group back from all these wonderful delights was the massively towering gate above them, the etched letters in the sign that sat at the top of the gate read:

"Noah's Ark Circus"

"So this is it." Rin heard Ciel respond after a long moment of silence.

"Well, what are you idiots waiting for, the sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can go home." Shizu urged angrily, the hostile energy wafting from her body kept Rin a few feet away from her, the only thing she did not like about coming to this circus.

Once inside, Rin could not stop her eyes from wandering, there were things to do everywhere she turned, from colorfully thrilling displays to tempting food stands that radiated such an aroma, Rin couldn't help it when her mouth began to water. There were people dressed in all sorts of strange and creative costumes, and glancing around at all the excitement, Rin began to feel herself wishing to be in the circus as well. In the center of it wall was a massive, tent like structure and as Rin followed her group, she began to notice that was where their destination lie.

* * *

Rin's wandering eyes did not stop even once inside the tent, for in there, even more marvelous events were waiting to happen. Rin continued to follow her group as they made their way into a sizeable, theater like room. There was a considerably large stage in the front with an array of towering seats that encircled it, making it seem like a tiny enclosure, Rin and her group selected one of the rows in the back, shrouded in somewhat of a thick shadow, and planted themselves there while they waited for whatever took part on the stage below them. Rin looked up above her and noticed a collection of luminously beaming lights that hung form the ceiling, providing the stage room with most of its light, along with a large, beautifully decorated chandelier that hung itself delicately in the middle, directly above the stage.

"It's quite elaborate." Stated Sebastian as he sat at the end of the aisle, next to his master.

" Yes, but no more than any other circus." Ciel pointed out. This being Rin's first circus, she couldn't help but feel by bias opinion, that this circus was certainly the best. Rin waited, with a slight uneasy feel in her stomach, for something, anything, extraordinary to happen, letting her gaze wonder some more with some restrictions, those restrictions being her aisle neighbor Shizu, who sat with a pure apathetic look on her face, still not even bothering to look at Rin when she accidently glanced in her direction. She would occasionally look in her maids direction as well, who's main objective seemed to be keeping her eyes glued to whatever invisible entity stood below them. Then, Rin felt her heart start to pick up its beat as the lights began to slowly dim, until everything in the room became shrouded in the same shadow her row had been covered in earlier. Rin held her hands in her lap, their form, tights fists, as a single stream of light appeared on the stage, revealing a rather strangely dressed man, who, from where Rin was sitting, looked to be dressed as a form of clown, though Rin had never really seen a clown before.

"Ladies and Gentleman, boys and girls!" The man's voice declared ecstatically, "Welcome to Noah's Ark Circus, I am Joker, pleased to meet 'ee!" and with that, the man began to take a group of what looked to be colorful bouncy balls in his hands, and began, with ease, to juggle them, then, with a bow, he let them all fall jokingly upon the back of his head. Rin, and the rest of the audience, filled the enormous room with their abundant laughter, followed by a round of applause.

"A prosthesis?" Rin heard Ciel quietly whisper to his butler as the cheering began to die down.

"Tonight, you'll see performances to stun and amaze 'ee!" Joker proclaimed as he held his hands out in the air and Rin could hear the distinct sound of footsteps approach center stage, their silhouettes being the only clear thing about their appearance as another applause made its way around the room.

"And now, with a great introduction from our fire breather, Jumbo, the show of the century begins!" Joker declared as he held his hands remained in the air. Suddenly, a large shadow made its way up from the ground, its form towering over the five main shadows in the front, though; this shadow soon became the clear form of a well-built man holding in his right hand, a burning torch. The large man, Jumbo, began to scare the gathering in front of them with a threatening roar, as Rin could hear their screams echo throughout the stage room as they made their terrified get away. Once they had cleared, Jumbo took his burning torch, and began to blow on the end, turning the once already pretty significant flame into a dazzling, cloud of light that he safely directed upwards, and with that, "the show of the century" commenced. The first, official act consisted of two trapeze artists named Peter and Wendy, who fearlessly swung themselves high above the stage, so high, Rin felt herself become slightly nauseated at the sight of them, especially since Peter hung himself upside down. Despite the danger of their act, Peter and Wendy performed quite well nonetheless. The act after theirs was a knife-throwing act, with the knife-throwing artist cleverly known as Dagger. This act, still quite dangerous, did not nauseate Rin as much as the first act, but still made her quite nervous as she watched golden blond haired boy, Dagger, toss sharpened blades at his target who willingly let herself be strapped to a circular, spinning board, the blades missing their "target" every time.

"And now, a beautiful dance by the rarest of rarities, our own serpent man, Snake!" Joker introduced the next act, this act consisted of a young, silver haired man Joker had previously called Snake, who, with an expressionless face, let an assortment of long, slimy green snakes slither themselves along his body, something Rin would much rather not try on her own time.

"Their acts are fairly standard." Rin heard her cousin comment after a while of watching.

"Yes, and they don't seem to be forcing the children to preform." Sebastian added.

"And next, look above ye, ladies and gents!" Joker began, and with that everyone in the audience turned their gaze upwards to witness an elegantly dressed young woman holding an open umbrella, as she stood high above the ground on nothing but a thin, stretched out rope, and Rin could feel the queasiness set back into her stomach as Joker continued, "A death- defying tightrope walk by the circus princess, Doll!"

"If they didn't intend to force the children to perform…" Ciel began as the whole group sat captivated by Doll's performance, "Could it be a coincidence that the disappearances were along the circus route?"

* * *

"Last but not least, the star of our troupe, I bring 'ee the famous tamer of wild cats, Beast!" Joker Introduced the final act of the night, a curly, black haired woman, much older than the one they called Doll, who joined forces with a considerably large tiger, and the tiger's name, if it had one, had yet to be revealed.

"Geez, what is up with that ladies outfit, I mean seriously, she trying to show off or something? Rin heard Shizu ask, it was the first thing she had heard come out of Shizu's mouth since they had been there.

"We'd love some audience participation for this act, are there any volunteers?" Joker had just got finished asking when Rin saw Sebastian's towering form make its way straight up out of its seat.

"Aww, Geez, what's this about?" Shizu questioned as they all looked curiously over towards Sebastian.

"What is it, did you find-"Ciel started, but seemed to cut himself off as Joker walked up towards their part of the crowd,

"This gent in the tailcoat sure looks eager!" Joker observed with an ever-present smile as he held a skeleton-looking hand out towards Sebastian, "Please comes on the stage!" Joker ushered him as the audience began to applaud once more at Sebastian's participation.

"Wait a second, aren't tigers…." Shizu could be heard whispering, but she too cut herself off as Sebastian began to make his way towards center stage.

"Now, if you just lie down here-" Joker began to instruct, but was cut short as Sebastian just made his way past him, as if in some sort of trance, his goal seeming not to lie with Joker or with Beast, but with the tiger.

"Ah, what lovely round eyes you have!" Rin could hear Sebastian compliment as he held the tiger's head gently in his hand. Rin then looked over at Shizu who seemed to be concealing her forehead in the palm of her hand, Rin then quickly turned her attention back to Sebastian and his new friend. After a few moments of being pampered by Ciel's butler, the tiger seemed to grow board of all his compliments and instead, thought it would be much more amusing to fit Sebastian's entire face in its mouth, the entire crowd in turn began to scream in horror.

"Well, this escalated quickly." Shizu commented blankly as the team of both Beast and Joker tried to remove Sebastian's head from the tiger's mouth, the tiger's name soon revealed to be Betty. Beast tried to whip Betty, but without even bothering to look at it, Sebastian held his hand out for the whip aimed at Betty, and replied to Beast that she had done nothing wrong as Betty released his head from her jaw. He also explained that indiscriminate whipping wasn't enough to train her properly. Betty however, was still not finished with Sebastian, and just as he had his back turned to her, she jumped upon his shoulders and bit him on the top of his head. Another wave of horrified screams filled the room along with the hasty instructions form Beast ordering Betty to spit Sebastian out right away with the excuse that he was "dirty", Sebastian in turn still seemed to be having the time of his life, unlike his master who now sat mortified within his seat.

* * *

"I didn't tell you to go _that _far!" Ciel angrily pointed out as the gathering began to make their departure from out of the massive tent, Sebastian's presence causing no unneeded attention as they came out into the open.

"My apologies, my lord." Sebastian replied with a large, shameless grin on his face, "I've lived many years, but cats are such whimsical creatures, I still can't quite read their moods."

"What was the point of attracting unnecessary attention-" Ciel was about to inquire but was interrupted by a minor sneeze, "You know I'm allergic to cats, stay far back!" Ciel then turned to his butler irritably as he began to make his leave. Some quick decision-making led Rin along with him, with Utsuho and Shizu at her heels, Ciel and the others taking one more unseen glance at his butler from between two smaller tents as he was soon approached by the red-headed ring leader known as Joker, who soon had him on a journey to the medical tent.

* * *

Rin sat inside the cramped space of a carriage alongside her cousin, who every so often would began to sneeze again, and had began to pick up where she had left off within her book, feeling Shizu's heated glares up and down her skin as she tried her best to ignore them. Rin could also feel the aching in her arm began to act up every now in then, but dismissed it with Shizu's reaper-like company being the trigger to the strange phenomenon as she let herself get engrossed into her book.


	18. Princess and Pigtails

***Authors Note* Hey guys, I'm back, this chapter was actually done a lot earlier than I thought it would be! And since no one seemed to tell me they wanted Soma and Agni's Arc in my fanfic, they will sadly not be in this chapter or in my fan fic, sorry to all who are fans of the two, but I'm afraid that is how it must be. Also, for those of you who are still a little freaked out about Utsuho's out of character personality, just a warning, it might be slightly worse in this, but I'm not you guys, so I wouldn't know, the reason of why she acts the way she does in my fan fic will be revealed pretty soon, so just hang in there, but for those of you who don't care, well, there's nothing really to worry about then. **

***Note-There is going to be some fluffiness (or "dorkiness" as I like to call it,yeah, I know that's not a real word) So for those of you who have been looking for some fluff, well, continue reading my friends! Also, sorry for any grammar mistakes and or sentences that don't make English that I might have missed while editing this piece. And also, one last thing, I am completely sorry if I butchered Joker's accent, I am not very good at accents when it comes to writing so I hope the lines I made for Joker came out alright! -^^-**

**Thanks so much for viewing and reviews, follows and favs are greatly appreciated, have a wonderful evening! -^^-**

**I shall try to have the next chapter out as fast as I can!**

* * *

Chapter 18: Princess and

Pigtails

* * *

"Report." Ciel demanded of his butler as the carriage's movements started to pick up once again, Sebastian's recent presence cramping the inside of the phaeton.

"I'm afraid I was interrupted before I'd made a full circuit of the camp." Sebastian provided his group with the unfortunate information, "I'd like to penetrate a bit deeper into their organization." He continued, "But I have a request for you in that regard."

"What kind of _request?" _Shizu asked instead of Ciel, her tone impatient, earning her an aggravated glare from the demon next to her, a glare she then returned to its rightful owner.

* * *

"I am not joining the circus, no way!" Shizu protested at the top of her lungs as she, followed by Rin and Utsuho made their way up towards their designated bedrooms, while Rin's cousin lingered on the floor beneath them, the whole group making themselves comfortable in another new town house, "This is all your fault!" Shizu then turned her heated gaze back upon Rin.

"Miss Kanjiru!" Utsuho hissed defensively as if it were her who had been disrespected, and Rin could feel herself become saddened once again, almost to the point of tears.

"Why is it my fault?" Rin asked tearfully.

"Well, this morning you show me that stupid ad for this stupid circus, and now, look where we went today, the circus, and look what we have to join tomorrow, _the circus." _

"That's probably just a coincidence!" Utsuho spoke up for her noble and Rin nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, some coincidence." Shizu scoffed as she opened the door to her bedroom, stepped inside, and violently slammed it behind her.

* * *

"Aww, what a lovely little group you have brought." Joker marveled with his hands upon his hips as a group of circus folk, including Sebastian who had already gained the circus' acceptance, stood encircling Ciel, Rin, Utsuho, and Shizu, their clothes consisting of nothing but messy rags in coordination with their fake backstory. The blinding sun beating down on their heads as the three girls listened to Ciel as he spoke,

"Yes, I've been in service as a pageboy" Ciel began to weave the group's elaborate lie, "My name is, er Finnian, and these three are my older sisters, Emily"-he motioned to Rin first-"Angela"-Next he motioned to Utsuho, "and Elise"-and lastly he motioned to Shizu, "They have been helping me ever since I was a small child." He then finished, giving the Joker a chance to review their story.

"Those are some pretty imposing names." Joker commented as he made his way towards the group in front of him, "Well, I'll give 'ee some stage names if 'ee pass." He then leaned in uncomfortably close to Ciel, his deep purple eyes staring directly into Ciel's as he asked,

"Art 'ee a boy, though?"

"Yes…" Ciel trailed off, not sure how to answer Joker's unusual question.

"Why, what else would he be?" Shizu asked mockingly.

"But just being adorable won't see thee through a circus." Joker began to explain, ignoring Shizu's last question, "We must do tricks, what are your specialties?" He glanced over at Ciel first.

"Well, darts I suppose." Ciel pondered for a moment.

"Hmmm, that'll be knife-throwing then." Joker replied, "Dagger, give him some knives!" he then ordered of the blond boy who looked to be conversing with the young girl they named Doll in the middle of the crowd.

"Now, while Dagger is testing your younger brother, I'd like to see what 'ee three gals are capable of, now come on, what is your specialty?" Joker requested of his female trainees, his attention seemed solely to be focused on Shizu at that moment, and Shizu must have sensed this as she spoke up first, her tone, indifferent

" Strength I guess."

"Strength, eh, well, I don't know if there is a specific act for that in our circus, but, show me what 'ee can do and I may still consider giving 'ee a chance." Joker responded with a welcoming smile. As Joker got Shizu ready for her strength test, Rin glanced over at her younger cousin who didn't look to be doing to well with his knife- throwing test, and out of anxiety, Rin quickly glanced back at Shizu, who now stood with Joker behind the gathering of bystanders that stood watching Ciel instead. Rin listened a bit more to Shizu's test now as she instructed Joker to step back a few feet. Joker, in turn, did what he was told and receded a few steps before  
Shizu got herself in position, her body slightly hunched and her fist aligned with the seemingly indestructible ground beneath her. Then after glancing back up at Joker to make sure he had kept his promise, she slammed her fist into the ground, creating a decently sized crater on the part of the ground that sat in front of her, the end of it barely reaching Joker's feet as the whole group in front of her now turned their attention towards her and away from Ciel, an arrogant smirk placed upon Shizu's lips as she took in their reactions, it was the first time Rin had seen a smile upon Shizu's lips since they had been there.

"Wow, that's amazing!" Joker praised excitedly.

"Heh, please, this is only just a taste of what I can do." Shizu taunted.

"I see, but now I suppose we're going to need someone to help get rid of this here crater in the ground. " Joker replied nervously as he glanced down at said crater, "I don't suppose any of 'ee have the power to fix this little mess?" he then asked jokingly.

"I do!" Rin heard herself instinctively volunteer, though she really had no clue why her gut told her to do this, but she took Shizu's earlier words to heart and continued to listen to its instructions.

"Oh no dear, that be a joke." Joker replied with a laugh to prove it really was a joke.

"But I can do it, I promise!" Rin begged innocently as she made her way from the crowd and towards the small whole in the ground, and then, with a light touch of her finger, the crater magically started to close itself back up to the point where it looked as if it had not been there in the first place. Rin felt a large amount of energy then drain itself from her body and she felt herself become slightly weakened upon standing, she had no idea how she had done that, or why she could do it in the first place, all she knew is that now, she really wanted to take a nap.

"Well I'll be, that is some trick my dear." Joker stood baffled, his eyes wide. Rin then turned her glance back at Shizu, and Shizu returned it, but this time Shizu's glance was not of hatred, but of shock.

"Well then, I guess it's your turn then, what is your specialty?" Joker asked quickly turning his gaze towards Utsuho.

"Um, knife throwing is fine for me, thank you." Utsuho replied humbly.

* * *

Though her cousin seemed to have passed his first test, Joker still wasn't satisfied, so now, the gathering of Rin, Shizu, Utsuho, and Sebastian, along with Joker and Dagger stood inside the main circus tent Rin had been introduced to the night before, but now, it looked to be completely void of any excitement, for now, it was only full of anxiety as Rin turned her attention to the lofty tightrope that stretched above her, that tightrope being her cousin's next challenge. Rin felt herself become quite nauseated at the sight of her cousin being up so high in the air, the possibility of falling and crashing to the ground threatened both him and Rin

"Yeah, I'd call that Undertaker dude, and request that coffin he had made for Ciel." Shizu whispered grimly into Rin's ear as Doll tied a thick rope around Ciel's tiny waist, "Yeah, this kid's going to die."

"Shizu!" Rin cried as quietly as she could so the rest of the gathering and Ciel couldn't hear her.

"What, I'm just saying." Shizu replied defensively, it was nice seeing Shizu not so agitated any more, though, Rin had no idea what had happened to make her feel somewhat more relaxed.

"That's tight!" Rin heard Ciel respond to Doll as she pulled firmly on the end of the rope.

"Deal with it, do you want to die?" Rin heard her ask, her face impassive.

"Wow, rude." Rin heard Shizu comment.

"Doll, cinch that lifeline up tight!" Joker could be heard calling up to her, "He's new, and he'll be hurt if he falls!"

"Yeah, he'll be hurt alright." Shizu snickered to Rin's dismay.

"Can't you test me on something else, please?" Ciel offhandedly begged and Rin felt herself nod in agreement.

"What, quitting already boy?" Joker asked tauntingly despite his large smile.

"N-No, I'd just rather do a different-"

"Then chivvy along, haven't got all day, have we?" Joker interrupted Ciel's protest.

"I'm just glad we don't' have to do that." Shizu whispered again into Rin's ear and Rin nodded with relief, bur relief quickly turned to anxiety as Ciel began to make his way clumsily along the tightrope. Rin held her breath in her throat as her cousin began to make it half way, but unfortunately, that was where things turned sour as Ceil began to loose his footing and it looked as though he were going to fall. Rin couldn't bear to look at him anymore and she hid her eyes in her hands, the darkness shrouding her eyes did anything but calm her as she could still hear Ciel's cries. When she unmasked her eyes, she could see Ciel standing perfectly straight once more upon the tightrope and she let herself relax to a certain point.

"Oh, he got his balance back!" Rin heard Joker comment eagerly as Ceil continued on his way.

"Wait, are those rocks?" Shizu asked as she revealed to Rin the minuscule flying objects that kept hitting her cousin in the side, cries of pain from Ciel following their ricochet.

"Yeah, I think." Rin replied.

"Cheater." Was all Shizu had to say to that matter for now as Ceil finally made his way across.

* * *

"Amazing, I didn't reckon you'd make it across!" Joker applauded as Ceil stood in front of him looking quite exhausted.

"Thanks." Ciel replied with an irritated look.

"This group passes then, eh Joker?" Dagger asked as he ran over to pat Ceil on the head.

"Not yet!" Joker suddenly cried out, "There's something important this lad be missing." And he began to make his way towards Ciel, Ciel in turned waited with a horrified stare for what Joker had planned for him next.

"A great big _smile_!" Joker shockingly replied and Rin could hear Shizu discreetly burst into laughter,

"Come on, smile!" Joker urged the confused boy, "What's wrong, don't be so gutted!" Rin looked over towards Sebastian who also didn't seem to be able to contain his laughter as he stood there with his back turned, his hands covering his mouth and his shoulders trembling. After a few minutes of obsessive urging, Joker was finally able to get a great big smile form Ciel, a smile that Rin couldn't help but mimic, though she knew it was fake, she had never actually seen her cousin smile and for that, she became grateful that she got to see him do so, if only for that one time.

* * *

**Shizu's P.O.V:**

"Yeah sure, join the circus they say, it will be fun they say." Shizu grumbled to herself as she stood in the privacy of her changing tent, her new outfit on a small pedestal next to her, it seem to consist of a form of body suit that seemed to be made of fishnet, a long, black skirt that went up to the tip of her chest as well as what look to be a black dress-like fixture that, as she continued to look over it, seemed to cover just the tip of her chest, the golden button in the front looked to connect the two chest pieces together and also fastened the dress to her form. It also came with a pair of knee-high black boots.

"Eww gross, this outfit looks disgusting, how do they expect me to wear this in front of a large crowd?" Shizu commented as she continued to examine her outfit, she then felt herself sigh in defeat as she replied to her earlier comment, "Well, I guess it won't be that bad, I mean the only one I won't want looking at me is that stupid demon, oh well, if he can't keep his eyes up for too long, I'll just punch his lights out." And satisfied with her resolve, Shizu began to undress.

"You know, I don't if I should be thankful or insulted that this outfit of mine passed as old rags." She laughed humorlessly as she began to tear off her grey, gauze-textured dress. As she was reaching for her first piece of clothing, however, she caught a glimpse of something in the mirror she stood in front of, this thing sat right upon the part of her chest that concealed her heart.

"Huh, a scar, how'd I get this?" Shizu asked herself as she lightly began to brush at it, as if she thought she could remove it, it however, did not budge.

"Aww, come on, this can't be happening, I can't have this scar showing up while I'm walking around wearing these dumb clothes." Shizu groaned as she continued in vain to get rid of her blemish. After a few moments, she finally gave up her attempt at trying to remove her permanent scar and instead, decided to get herself dressed as she originally planned to do in the first place.

* * *

"All right, everyone, we have some new mates joining us!" Joker began to declare as Shizu looked around at the rest of her group and their attire. There was nothing really special about Sebastian's outfit, just a few changed accessories and face paint. Ciel and the rest of the gang on the other hand seemed to be dressed a bit more elaborately. First off, Ciel's attire consisted of a black and white striped blouse with a black vest on top and a purple ribbon in the middle of his ruffled collar. Deep blue, puffy shorts with attached suspenders that hung from his shoulders. On his legs were two different styles of knee-high socks, one style being the same black and white striped style of his shirt and the other just a plain black. His shoes were ankle high white boots with black lacing on the front, and to top it all off, on his head he wore a large blue and white hat with a drooping feather like fixture inside. Next to him stood Rin, who's outfit consisted of a puffy white, sleeveless dress with pale pink flowers occupying the bottom edge of her dress as well as around her waist, her auburn hair tied back in a sizeable pink ribbon, and her dainty pink shoes tied themselves around her ankles and contained a slight heel at the bottom, making Rin appear slightly taller than she usually was. Her maid, Utsuho's outfit looked a lot like the girl, Doll's, except that it was pitch black and had only a single sleeve that wrapped itself around her shoulder, her shoes, knee high boots that seemed to mimic the style of Shizu's, her long, silky black hair braided and hung over her sleeveless one shoulder, she also lacked the head piece Doll was known to wear as well. Shizu's outfit remained the same with the added effect of black lipstick. Though she found the idea of wearing such dark make-up horrendous, she felt that if she had to be stuck here, she might as well play her part. Finally, Joker began assigning the group stage names, first was Sebastian, who was to be know as "Black" while they were there, then Ciel, who was to be known as "Smile", next Rin who was to be known surprisingly as "Princess", then Utsuho who was to be known as "Rose", and then finally Shizu, who was to be known shamefully as Pigtails.

"Pigtails, how embarrassing!" Shizu muttered quietly to herself, "Well, I guess it's not that bad, the only one who will know about this is these four dorks." Shizu then felt herself sigh once more.

"Give 'em a warm welcome, everyone!" Joker finally finished proclaiming to Shizu's relief, but not before Sebastian was about to have a little fun with his master,

"Go on, Smile, say a few words." Sebastian insisted with a slight laugh as his master stood mortified, his eyes glued to the gathering in front of him. Then, after a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Ciel finally managed to spit out,

"P-please to meet you."

"Come on, Smile, smile!" Joker could be heard pressing.

* * *

"Now, I'll give ye a quick backstage tour, follow me!" Joker declared as he ushered his new recruits through the considerably large village of tents. Shizu watched some of the people pass her by, and she couldn't help but feel a slight dread in her stomach, as she knew now she was officially part of this circus of freaks. She was just about to consider making a run for it when she felt someone grab her by the arm forcefully.

"Hey!" Shizu screamed, afraid it was one of the freaks from the circus trying to mug her, but instead it was just Rin.

"Shizu." Rin cried sounding almost weepy.

"What is it?" Shizu asked sounding a little too harsh.

"My arm hurts again." Rin whined to her as if Shizu was her mother.

"Well it's probably just due to my presence here, don't worry about it Princess." Shizu replied and felt herself place her hand gently atop Rin's head, but quickly feeling embarrassed, she retreated her hand and placed it stiffly at her side, Rin in turn stayed attached to her arm as if she were of the age of six, the weight of Rin's body pulling Shizu's body suit down and by recent habit, Shizu felt herself place her hand over her scar so that in case the netting ripped, nobody would see the horrific mark upon her chest, especially Sebastian.

"Honestly." Shizu breathed to herself. Shizu continued her walk, or rather her trudge, as Joker showed them the tents they would be sleeping, and Shizu couldn't help but feel that they were too small to sleep in, at least smaller than she was used to,

"This is where the "second-stringers" live, stage hands, newcomers and such." Joker continued explaining as he pulled open the tent's curtains to reveal the inside of the tent, its insides swathed in shadow as Shizu could only really make out what looked to be a small bunk bed, "They sleep about two, three to tent." Joker then turned his attention to the tent behind him, and in response, the rest of the group did so as well as he continued to explain,

"Over there's where we eat, and were we store the food, cooking's a big part of the job while 'ee be new, so work hard." Food suddenly sounded pretty good to Shizu at that moment and she couldn't help it when her stomach started to cry noisily out to her.

"Shut up!" Shizu demanded of her empty stomach as Joker continued with his tour,

"Furthest down the line is the infirmary where Black was yesterday." Joker replied as he pointed the thin cane he held in his hands towards the end of the row of yellow tents,

"And past here, are the private tents for the main cast." Joker stated as he led the gathering to a group of nicer looking, light purple tents blocked off by a thin, black gate.

"Private Tents?" Shizu heard Rin's bratty cousin ask.

"The big names get places to themselves, you could say, oh and-" He paused himself to point at a particular tent, " The first one is Snake's, so best keep your distance, he lets lots of poisonous ones run loose, one bite and 'ee be stone dead."

Shizu started to feel herself become bored of their little tour, the late morning heat penetrating itself through her deep black clothing, making her feel quite uncomfortable as she carelessly listened to Joker's rambling's, the only thing to catch her attention was a few minutes after Joker's introduction to Snake's sleeping quarters. Joker abruptly held out his cane towards Ciel's neck, almost as if he were trying to threaten him, he then spoke up, his face strangely cold,

"That reminds me, Smile, what happened to thy right eye?"

"Er, there was an accident." Ciel began, trying to reclaim himself after Joker caught him off guard.

"Oh, poor thing, with 'ee so young." Joker replied, truly feeling sorry for Ciel's lie as he held Ciel's small head within his bony hand, Joker then quickly lighted up as he stated with another annoying smile,

"Well, we're all damaged here, so let's all be friends! " and with that, he held Ciel in a sort of a hug as he led him onwards, with the rest of the group behind him at his heels.

"Did all the players join up during your travels like this?" Sebastian asked after a moment of nothing but the blissful silence of soft footprints upon the ground.

"Most, yes, but we first-stringers all come from the same place, we're childhood friends, like. " Joker explained as they continued their walk.

"Childhood Friends?" Sebastian questioned curiously.

"Yep!" Joker replied happily. A faint tune then caught Shizu's attention as she glanced over at a familiar looking man who she could vaguely recall to be named Jumbo, the man seemed to be playing some form of an instrument, but Shizu couldn't put a name to it, he sat on a small barrel nestled in the shade of a large tree, both tree and man surrounded by another thin black fence.

"Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son, Mother Goose?" Ciel asked after a moment of soothing melody.

"Oh, well spotted, Smile, not too many know that song!" Joker stopped abruptly to turn and face Ciel, praising him.

"It's nothing, just my last master quite liked it." Ciel continued quite humbly, earning him another skeptical glare from Joker.

"I must say it surprises me that all you first-stringers are lifelong friends!" Sebastian commented, possibly trying to change the topic at hand.

"Oh, Snake's the exception, though." Joker clarified as he looked up from Ciel, his face softened once more, "His snake-handling is tops, and we needed a snake man, so he took the shortest road to the top, first stringers get to eat first, so they don't have to fight tooth and nail for their food, and they get their own tents, so everyone else has a friendly rivalry trying to be first-string." And with that, Joker led the group into the biggest tent in the whole entire "village", it's inside brightly lit despite its dark purple walls that would most likely be known to absorb the light within the places. As Shizu looked around, she could tell that Joker was right about the "friendly rivalry" everyone around busied themselves with what seemed to her to be useless tasks, such as juggling, tightrope walking and many other useless feats.

"See 'em all working?" Joker asked his audience, "There's some time before we open, so the newcomers are all practicing, taking every moment they can, looking to earn their public debut, everyone starts form the basics!" Joker stated as the gathering next to him watched a young woman make a devastating fall into a massive net in front of them after attempting to swing from a trapeze, "You two get nice and ready before you-

"Joker, got a moment?" Came a familiar voice. The voice soon revealed to be that of the woman they referred to as Beast.

"Sure." Joker responded as he, and the rest of the group turned to look at her. Shizu then watched carefully as the color of Beast's face turned as bright red as the color lipstick she was wearing, She followed Beast's gaze to Sebastian who stared at her unusually innocent. Beast then quickly turned her head impolitely away from the gathering in front of her, the blush still lingering in her cheeks.

"Well good morning to you too, honey." Shizu replied sarcastically.

"Right then, work hard gang!" Joker encouraged as he made his leave form the tent following Beast, leaving the small group alone in the wide-open tent.

* * *

"I can't believe the entrance to the private quarters is full of poisonous snakes." Ciel began to complain as he and his butler, as well as Rin and her maid began to do some extremely rigorous stretches, stretches Shizu didn't feel like doing at the moment, not just because she didn't feel like doing them, but mainly because she still felt quite paranoid about her outfit ripping and her scar unintentionally revealing itself to the gathering in front of her.

"Pigtails!" Rin excitedly called out from nowhere and Shizu cringed at her new nickname being called out so loudly.

"What 's up?" Shizu asked somewhat irritated

"Do you want to do some stretches with me, I know I already did some with Utsu-I mean Rose, but I think I could use a bit more stretching if you want to try it with me." Rin optimistically replied.

Shizu looked hesitantly over at Ciel and his butler who were still going on about no children being kept at this circus, and she grimaced as Ciel tried to lift his thousand pound butler over his scrawny back, just imagining Rin and her doing just that made her shudder.

"Nah, I'm alright." Shizu replied to Rin's disheartened face.

"Hey you guys quit stretching and get practicing." The little blonde brat Dagger instructed of the group, not paying a bit of attention to the fact that Shizu didn't even bother to stretch.

"Mr. Dagger, right sorry!" Ciel replied as Sebastian let him down from their awkward stretch.

"It's your first day, right, I'll coach you through practice!" Dagger declared and by the tone of his voice, Shizu could tell he was smiling, "First, we need to decide what your acts will be, any requests?"

"I'd prefer something less physically demanding than the tightrope, _greatly _prefer." Ciel replied with a bit of a shudder.

"Yeah, you do seem pretty frail!" Dagger laughed, "Right then, I'll teach Smile all about knife-throwing." He then looked over at the group of girls who stood staring somewhat impatiently.

"Alright ladies, how about you?" Dagger finally asked them.

"If it's alright, I wouldn't mind learning a thing or two about knife throwing as well." Utsuho responded a bit humbly.

"Alright, then that's two for knife-throwing." Dagger stated, as he seemed to be taking count of how many acts he'd have to coach, "Alright Princess, how about you?"

"Oh, can I do something with animals maybe, I mean if that's alright." Rin requested timidly, her face turning bright red with embarrassment.

"Hmm, that's more of Beast's department, but I guess I can see if she would have time to train you." Dagger mulled over before turning his sights on Shizu, an annoyingly warm smile planted on his lips as he inquired,

"How about you Pigtails, what would you prefer?"

"It doesn't really matter to me, knife throwing is fine." Shizu shrugged with an uninterested look on her face.

"Right, then that's three for knife-throwing." Dagger took count, "and last but not least, how about you Black?"

"I have no particular preference." Sebastian replied honestly.

"Yeah, you're a real athlete!" Dagger commented with a chuckle, "Try whatever you think you can manage, I'll watch!"

"Oh man, here we go!" Shizu sarcastically mumbled to herself as Sebastian effortlessly made his way around the tent, he tried everything form the trapeze, to contortions, and to Shizu's delight, was about to shove an entire knife down his throat when Dagger anxiously had to put a stop to his fun.

"Shizu, my arm really, really hurts now!" Rin quietly whined into Shizu's ear as the large gathering inside the tent encircled around Sebastian and his master in awe of Sebastian's flawless performance.

"Rin, I told you, it's just me!" Shizu replied with a huff as Dagger spoke up,

"Well, I'll be darned, _another _bright new star, I better keep sharp."

"Aww man, there's not another one of him in here is there?" Shizu whined at the thought of another demon running around the circus, it was basically her two worst nightmares combined.

"Another?" Ciel mimicked Dagger question.

"There's one more brilliant lad who's just joined up." Dagger explained, the hint of a smile still present in his voice, "Look over there." And upon following Dagger's pointed finger, Shizu's nightmare only became worse, as she had to quickly covered her mouth with her hands in order to keep herself from screaming out loud as she listened to Dagger repeat the obvious lie the man on the tightrope had created for himself,

"He's a former civil servant, or something, and he's strangely serious."

"Mr. ." Shizu heard Rin softly cheer to herself as Shizu felt like she was going to pass out.

"Hey, come down suit!" Dagger commanded to William who stood motionless in the middle of his tightrope walk.

"Do I have permission to leave this circus, like, immediately?" Shizu asked Rin who just looked up at her in confusion,

"Why would you want to leave, your friend is here!" Rin cried happily, for she didn't seem to sense the awkwardness Shizu was feeling at the moment,

"Okay, first of all, he's not a friend, I don't even know who he is, second, why are you so excited about this?" Shizu questioned Rin with a raised eyebrow, her cheeks flushed, probably mirroring that of Shizu's

"I'm excited about a lot of things." Rin replied innocently as she turned her glance over towards Will.

"Touché" Shizu shrugged, still feeling quite uneasy. She then looked tentatively in William's direction, his gaze seemed to be directed on the group below him, specifically, at Sebastian.

"Ah yes, I thought I sensed something foul, for goodness sake." William sighed as he remained where he was on the tightrope. He then took his "death scythe" and twirled it violently in his hands before aiming and releasing the sharp end of it at Sebastian who stood below him. Sebastian then effortlessly dodged the attack seemingly assigned to him by the angered reaper.

"I didn't think we'd meet again, what prey are you hunting for this time." William inquired as he made his descent from the tightrope with the assistance of his "death scythe". Shizu couldn't help but giggle slightly at the sight of his new costume, she found it quite amusing for him to be wearing such colorful attire, it didn't seem to fit his stoic personality in the least. She then felt herself stiffen in horror as she realized William could ruin her group's mission, though she had no idea why she even cared, she didn't even want to be here in the first place. Maybe it was a good idea to let Will ruin this for the bratty pubescent kid and his demonic butler who William really seemed to be hating at the moment, though, she could understand why. Shizu watched apathetically as Will made his dramatic descent to the ground, and then taking the end of his blade, he began to shove it violently in Sebastian's direction, a few inches from his face,

"You vile demon!"

"Demon?" voices in the crowd began to anxiously ask each other, the fear beginning to grow upon their faces and in their voice as the room became drenched in anxiety.

"Okay, I've heard enough!" Shizu proclaimed from the back of the room, her sudden voice turning everyone's attention towards her as she made her way up to "Suit". Though she really wasn't the type to care about other people's problems, or if those people decided to flaunt their problems about the room in an arrogantly showy manor, for this situation however, she felt strangely responsible. She now stood in front of William, her hand over her chest to conceal her blemish as it had now become a habit, and tried her best to keep her cool as she stared into his luminescent green eyes, his glare the same as she remembered it to be when she had first met him, indifferent but slightly lonely, and she began to notice that the longer she stood in front of him, the more his gaze seemed to soften, though she just dismissed if for the fact that she was blocking his view of the "vile demon."

"Okay, hi, Suit right, um, can I see you maybe, somewhere that isn't here?" Shizu hastily spat out, trying to sound as calm and coordinated as she could, but she figured the way she poured her sudden request out in front of William, suggested otherwise.

"Of course." William replied with surprising ease.

"Oh, cool, um, just follow me." Shizu instructed as she took William by the sleeve of his dazzling coat, leaving the rest of the gathering inside the tent to ponder what they just saw happen.

* * *

Once she had dragged him out far enough away from the tent to the point she figured no one would be able to hear them, she released his sleeve and began to feel herself breathe heavily, even if she hadn't gone that far.

"Miss Shizu?" William asked after a long moment of awkward silence, a single eyebrow rose in confusion, his bright yellow jacket glittering in the moonlight.

"No way, don't you dare think I'm the only weirdo here, what was that back there?" Shizu asked after she had caught her breath.

"What?" William asked as he adjusted his glasses.

"Don't what me!" Shizu screamed, feeling uneasily as if she was his legal guardian, "You don't just randomly start shooting your death scythe at people, you could have killed someone who wasn't Sebastian!"

"I was merely taking care of business." William explained emotionlessly, "business" obviously an allusion for Sebastian.

"Heh, like we've all haven't tried to do that before." Shizu scoffed, "But anyways, you don't just yell, "oh hey look, a demon" in a crowded place, that's like yelling, "fire", you especially don't do that when you're _undercover_!" she then angrily pointed out.

"My apologies, Miss Shizu." William stated, as Shizu became the one to raise an eyebrow, why did he seem to have such a pandering attitude towards her, she bet if she placed Rin in her situation right now, he would easily ignore her, or maybe tell her that this was none of her business, but for Shizu, getting this man to do what she asked was as easy as flipping a light switch on in a darkened room, the fact that she was around the age of eighteen and he was probably a thousand something years old disturbed her as well and she tried not to think about it.

"Whatever just don't do that again." Shizu responded with a sigh. She then began to feel the bitterly cold air bite at her skin, "Circuses are held in tents, the weather is irrelevant." Shizu felt herself mocking Ciel's earlier comment as she held her own body in her arms to try to regain the warmth she had lost earlier. After a few moments of intense shivering, she felt something wrap itself around her body and looked up to see that it was dazzling coat William had been wearing a few minutes ago, its form warming her body as well as the tips of her cheeks as she looked back at William who seemed to be making his leave back towards the tent. And seeming to sense that she was now looking at him, he replied without even turning to glance at her,

"It's improper for a beautiful young woman to be kept out in the cold." She then felt her face burn with embarrassment as she screamed back at him,

"You idiot, get back here and take your coat with you!" but when he didn't do what she asked of him and kept going, she decided to run after him, holding the coat close to her body as she tried her best not to trip over it.

"I didn't ask for this." She grumbled to herself as she continued her run back towards the tent, not looking forward to having to explain to the gathering how Will's coat ended up around her shoulders.

* * *

To Shizu's amusement and irritation, William would still not cooperate with Sebastian, even after their little talk together. Shizu instinctively knew she had done all she could do, at least as far as she was concerned, and if they still wanted to butt heads with each other, then that was their problem, not hers.

"I flatly refuse to play nice with nice with a vermin." William finally responded after Dagger had properly introduced everyone and told them to "play nice" with each other, though, now that William knew her stage name, she couldn't look him directly in the eyes anymore without feeling heat rise to her cheeks.

"Flatly refuse?" Dagger repeated back in bewilderment at Will's statement, " Circuses are run on teamwork!" He then called back at Will who started to walk away to Shizu's relief.

"What is a grim reaper doing here?" Shizu heard Ciel ask his butler.

"It's rare for reaper to go undercover himself, as well." Sebastian replied, "Still, this tells us one thing for certain, something is going on at this circus."


	19. The Signs of Weakness

***Author's Note: Sorry for the long break everyone, been kind of busy lately, you know, with the holidays and everything! But I'm finally back, and hopefully this chapter is a bit better than the other one. I do have to apologize in advance though for the quite gloomy topic towards the end, I really do not like the topic of 'suicide' at all, I'm just following Yana Toboso's rules for becoming a reaper, and for those of you who don't really know what I mean, I would suggest taking a glance at the manga before reading this, we don't want any spoilers now do we? Also, I hope I didn't make William too O.O.C in this chapter, for those of you who know his character, you know he can be quite emotionless, thought I think I did a fairly good job with his character. Also, I am introducing some new characters from a Canon series I created, Shizu, Rin and another character of mine who will be showing up fairly soon are the main characters for the series. Anyways, these characters just touch on the basis of my story called "Heart Attack", so I didn't want you to become confused and if you would like to skip over those little parts, please feel free to go ahead, you may also skim the despairing part at the end as well if you please, because that is what I would probably do as well if I was you guys. ^^; **

**Thank you so much for reading and Reviews, Follows and Favs are always appreciated! Thank you and I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday! -^^-**

Chapter 19: The Signs of Weakness

"Mr. Suit, please wait!" Shizu heard Rin desperately cry out before picking up her dainty little legs to try and catch up to him, producing clouds of dust behind her as her heels unintentionally kicked the dirt in her haste.

"You idiot, don't encourage him to come back." Shizu mumbled to herself as she watched Rin finally catch up to him, but he seemed to pay her no attention in return. She then began to wonder then, that if she was in Rin's position right now, would he listen to _her _plea, or would it be the same end result in either situation? Shizu didn't bother to turn her attention back to Ciel and Sebastian once Dagger had seized him around the neck and instructed to take up practicing so he could be as good as Black, and with a violent tug, Dagger then took the small boy away against his will as Sebastian just stood and watched his master be taken away without even a hint of concern.

"Eh, I'll catch up to them when I feel like it, which will probably be never." Shizu dismissed the little scene Dagger and Ciel had just made, relieved Dagger hadn't tried to force her, Rin or Rose to practice as well, though she was a little confused as to why he didn't bug them to train with him, but the topic rolling within her mind changed to the long awaited question of how did Rin get such ability to heal things such as the Earth, sure, she could maybe see healing her own body, but inanimate objects such as the ground. Were there other things she could heal? What was Rin exactly, she defiantly wasn't a human.

"Excuse me." Sebastian's voice spoke up, seizing Shizu's attention, but it wasn't intentionally meant to grip her attention, and as she glanced over towards the tiny group in the corner of the massive tent the familiar sensation of anger beginning to burn within the pits of her stomach could be felt as she noticed that is was intended to seize William's attention instead.

"I have a few questions for you, as my senior." Sebastian continued, Shizu sensing his devious tone as she whispered angrily to herself,

"Don't you dare, you piece of filth." And with that, she continued to stake out the four trainees in the corner, Rin who seemed to sense William's aggression towards Sebastian tried to keep Sebastian as far away from Will as possible as she looked to be frantically shaking her head, probably hoping Sebastian would pick up what she was trying to say, but he seemed to ignore her as Utsuho appeared to be trying to remove her fragile noble from the presence of the supernatural beings. William adjusted his glasses as he stared heatedly in Sebastian's direction.

"I have nothing to say to you." Will finally explained as he turned from Sebastian to face the towering rows of seats behind him. And with that, Sebastian impatiently grabbed Will by the wrist, sending Shizu over the top as she screamed,

"Hey Black, keep your hands to yourself, why don't you?" and, caught by Shizu's sudden command, Sebastian turned towards her, his face discreetly irritated as he replied,

"Terribly sorry, Pigtails, I was only going to ask Suit to help me with training, outside possibly." the end of his explanation came out in a faint hiss as Shizu watched furiously William who struggled against Sebastian's sturdy grip.

"Well, if you want, you can help me with _my _training by providing me with your face as I could defiantly use that as a punching bag!" Shizu replied, matching Sebastian's venomous hiss, terrified gasps from the other circus trainees just as quickly filled the room as Shizu felt herself ready to fight once again.

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down Pigtails, Black is only asking Suit for some advice, there's no need to be so violent!" Dagger intervened as he came running up to Shizu anxiously, trying to settle the conflict that began to form within the training tent.

"Heh, you're not the boss of me." Shizu spat as she simply walked pass what was supposed to be her roadblock, but just ended up being a nuisance.

* * *

It had only been a few minute since Sebastian had gotten what he wanted, and had taken Will outside, but Shizu was already getting antsy as she watched Rin try but fail at juggling, her face dropping with every ball that fell to the floor. Shizu felt her jaw clamp tightly into place as she wondered what Sebastian was planning to talk about with Will, sure it was probably why he was here in the first place, but she couldn't help but feel that maybe their conversation would trail off to something a little more extreme, a demon and a reaper together was a recipe for disaster after all, though she also had a sense that Will could take care of himself. She still had no idea why she cared so much about him, he was about as annoying as anyone else here. Finally, Shizu felt something inside her snap once more, and she couldn't bother to stay away from the group of both reaper and demon, especially when she noticed that Ciel had disappeared as well.

"Fine, guess it's my turn then." Shizu replied to her own decision as she started to make her leave from the tent. Leaving Rin and Her maid alone to practice by themselves.

The first thing to welcome her return to the outside world was a violent whip of unforgivingly cold wind, the next being the friendlier light of the moon which hung high in the sky, watching Shizu as she tried to find the group of two who now must have had an added third. She had finally stumbled upon the group, all three members having no clue that Shizu was heading towards them, when she heard Ciel speak up, his tone directed towards William,

"…If you can't blend in with humans, your worse than that ginger riff raff."

"Shut it brat!" Shizu spoke up to the insult that was directed to Will, "You don' hear him complaining when you can't even put on your own clothes without the help of your sorry excuse for a butler!"

"Pigtails!" Ciel spoke up as he whipped his tiny head around to look at her, his eyes wide in shock and what Shizu hopped to be embarrassment.

"Well, well, look who has decided to join us." Sebastian commented with false excitement.

"Hope you didn't miss me too much." Shizu replied arrogantly.

"Actually, we were quite fine until you showed up." Sebastian replied with a smirk.

"Sure you were, come on now, there is no need to lie." Shizu replied without stumbling on Sebastian's insult,

"Come on Wi-I mean suit, let's leave these idiots to their business, I personally have no need for them." Shizu then instructed as she felt herself become bored of standing out in the cold without anything to excite her.

"Of Course, Miss Pigtails." Will replied and Shizu felt herself go rigid with embarrassment.

"Oh, and Smile." Will spoke up once more, the sound of his voice already uncomfortably close to her, and he was only a couple inches from her body,

"Please keep your pup fully reined in."

"I don't want to hear that from a man who can't even go properly undercover, Four –Eyes." Ciel spat back angrily.

"I'm not Four-Eyes, I'm Suit." William corrected somewhat proudly as Shizu heard the slight click of his glasses being placed back upon his face.

"You dork." Shizu spat quietly as the heat made its way back into her cheeks.

* * *

Shizu was finally back with within the cloth walls of the tent, its delicate fabric providing her a sufficient amount of heat to the point where she could feel the intense shivering within her body slowly die down to what seemed almost like a slight twitch. Though they were back within the tent, they were not receiving any sort of training, at least not on center stage, for at that time, the main first-stringers were putting on another seemingly mainstream circus, the crowd of bystanders every so often could be heard filling the whole tent with either a round of applause or a roar of laughter. Shizu and her gang however were in the back, lifting heavy wooden crates and stacking them upon each other. "Suit" had left them for the time being to pursue whatever else he planned on doing.

"What's wrong kid, can't lift your crate, maybe you should go work out some more." Shizu replied as she effortlessly picked up a single wooden crate, the crate being as much if not more than her actual body weight, and if she were a normal human girl, this crate would most likely be impossible to lift, but since she was obviously above "normal", lifting these solid boxes was like lifting air itself. At Shizu's taunt, Ciel glared at her as he tried with all his might to lift the box, let alone move it to its designated spot. Shizu laughed at his unintimidating glare, though she knew he was a child of revenge, there was nothing he could do that was going to hurt her or humiliate her for that matter, nothing, and she bet he knew that as she smirked condescendingly in his direction.

* * *

"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for, it's the tent assignments!" Joker announced as he held a single sheet of paper into the moonlit night. Shizu grumbled to herself, as she was outside in the brutal cold for the third time that night, and though the last two times were of her decision making, she still felt infuriated as the nipping cold began to feast on her skin once more and she felt herself burst into a series of violent shivers, though she wouldn't have thought it would be this cold, even if it was at the end of the summer, they still had another month to get through before the real winter began.

"Yeah, tent assignments!" Rin clapped happily as she began to bounce up and down, "I hope I get you two as my roommates!" She then declared as she looked over at both Shizu and Utsuho, "That would be awesome!"

"Right…." Ciel replied tiredly as he continued to tremble from all the crate carrying they had done earlier.

"Well, don't 'ee look down in the mouth, Smile, smile!" Joker urged as he leaned in towards Ciel.

"I think you all just need to shut up so we can get this over with." Shizu replied with a huff.

"Well then, the results of our impartial lottery, Smile, 'ee be in Tent Eight with your roommate, Freckles." Joker declared as he motioned to what looked to be a boy Shizu hadn't even noticed next to him, this boy had light brown hair, a large portion of it covered his right eye, while the other eyes was a bright sky blue. The boy in turn smiled when he noticed Ciel looking his way.

"Pigtails, Princess and Rose are all bunking together." Joker declared with a smile, "They will be in Tent Ten."

"Yay!" Declared Rin who, in haste of her excitement, seized Shizu in a death hug.

"Okay, Princess, that is way too tight!" Shizu cried through shortened breaths.

"And in Tent Nine, Black will be bunking with Suit!" Joker declared to both Will and Sebastian's horror. And Shizu snickered as she watched the heated, but silent showdown take place between them.

"Heh, that ought to be fun, too bad I won't be there to watch it." Shizu laughed with delight at the thought of the two enemies bunking with each other.

"Actually!" Ciel spoke up suddenly, a look of child-like concern present on his face.

"What is it now kid, he already assigned the rooms, get over the fact that you're not with your dumb butler" Shizu mused to herself as she watched Ciel take center stage.

"I know this is probably not my place to say, but." He then turned his large blue eye towards Shizu before turning it back towards Joker,

"I think Suit and Pigtails should bunk together." And with that, Shizu felt herself stiffen, though she assumed Joker wouldn't change the rules just because Smile told him to, would he? What would be the point anyways, Sebastian would just end up bunking with Rin and her maid instead, he wasn't going to be able to get his butler to bunk with him, unless, this was his form of revenge towards her. If this did work, the kid would be lucky there were two beds to a tent.

"Hmm, well usually I'm not one for changing rules, but…" Joker began, sounding as if he were forming a deal, "If 'ee can continue to provide this group with 'ee genuine smiles for as long as 'ee be stayin' here, then I'll consider it." Joker concluded with a smile of his own to get Ciel in the mood.

"Of course!" Ciel replied sounding unusually happy, and to Shizu's horror, the next thing Joker declared was,

"Alirght then, Pigtails will now be moved to Tent Nine with Suit, and Black will be moved to Tent Ten with the misses!"

"What?!" Shizu screamed infuriated as she watched Ciel return the smirk she had given him earlier.

"What's the matter pigtails, are 'ee not satisfied with the room arrangements?" Joker asked sounding concerned at her outburst.

"No, it's not…" Shizu began as she could feel everyone's eyes on her, "It's nothing, I'm fine."

"Okay then, well get to bed then everyone, it's an early morning tomorrow!" Joker declared as he let Shizu's sudden outburst roll off him.

* * *

As she was careful not to embarrass herself in front of the emotionless reaper, she let him lead the way to the tent, due to the fact that she had not been paying attention when Joker was going over where each tent was located. Every so often, Will would look over his shoulder, possibly to check is Shizu if was still behind him and that she not gotten lost, but when he did this however, Shizu forced herself to turn her gaze upon the ground beneath her feet, and when she was sure he wasn't looking at her anymore, she turned her gaze back up. They both finally found themselves standing at the entrance of their designated tent, its bright yellow form shrouded in the deep blue shadow of darkness, the only thing to help distinguish it, was the helpful ray of light emitted from the moon above them. As they both made their way into its drapery-like walls, Shizu's hand lightly brushed the familiar form of a light switch, and upon realizing such fact, she flipped its tiny switch, illuminating the once shadowy space into a quaint, hopefully temporary living space.

"Innovation at its finest." Shizu remarked as she stared at the dazzling light bulb above her head.

"Miss Shizu?" William spoke up after a moment of brief silence.

"Yeah?" Shizu questioned somewhat irritably.

"I was just curious, as to which bunk you would prefer?" William asked turning his eyes towards her, adjusting his specs once more so a shimmer briefly blocked the view of them.

"Aww sweet, I get to choose!" Shizu replied, making up for Will's lack of excitement in the matter, "I call top bunk!" and with that, Shizu pulled her small body up the ladder that led to her chosen bunk, leaving Will with the bottom bunk.

"One more question." Will spoke up once more, ruining Shizu's blissful silence.

"Yeah, what is it?" Shizu called down.

"Are you going to want to change out of your costume?" He questioned, helping Shizu to realize that she was in fact, still wearing her costume.

"Oh, yeah, probably." Shizu replied as she stared at the taunting scar that had unbeknownst to her, made a home upon her chest. As she made her way carefully down the ladder, she realized that her ragged, but usable gauze dress was still present within the changing room she had last used, in fact, her whole outfit was most likely contained in that tiny room.

"Hey Will, I'm headed to the woman's changing tent to get my change of clothes, I'll be back." Shizu informed her roommate as she stood at the mouth of the tent.

"Would you like me to come with you?" William offered as he sat comfortably atop the bottom bunk.

"Nah, I'm good, it will take like two seconds anyways." Shizu replied, shooting down his offer.

"Alright, then." William replied as Shizu turned to leave.

* * *

"Hey, I'm back." Shizu announced as she made her way back into the tent. Her old, gauzy dress placed back upon her body along with her black high heels that were placed rightfully on her feet, her medium length, auburn hair taken from the hold of her normal pigtails and given the freedom to fall to the tip of her shoulders. As she walked back in her temporary home, she noticed that William had also acquired a change of clothes while she had gone. Instead of a gaudy, glittering coat, he now sported a pair of blue and white striped pajamas, his hair, however, still neatly combed.

As her voice must have caught his attention from the book he looked to be heavily engrossed in, he turned his eyes up to look at her,

"Welcome back, Miss Shizu." He responded, his face and tone still expressionless.

"Heh-you wear pajamas- what a loser." Shizu commented with an anxious laugh, feeling the burning sensation set in her cheeks once more.

"I suppose." William replied as he kept his eyes glued to his book. Shizu scoffed at his unreceptive answer to her insult as she made her way towards the ladder that led up to her half of the structure. She knew Will was stronger than he seemed to be presenting himself at that moment, heck, she saw him catch Grell's running blade between his two fingers with such ease, it actually quite terrified her, so why was he acting so weak, was he scared of her?

"Geez, the least you could do was stick up for yourself." Shizu irritably replied as she pulled herself up the ladder and into her bed. In return for her last comment, she got no reply from the man below, as Shizu assumed he was still absorbed in his book.

"Whatever." Shizu spat as she rolled over on her side.

She could then quickly feel herself succumb to the burden of sleep that was taking over her body, and in response, she fell into a deep, dreary sleep.

* * *

**Homura's P.O.V**

A swift stream of memories came flashing before her eyes, followed by a sudden darkness, the mixture of the two events preventing her from opening her eyes as she waited for them to subside. Once she felt it was safe, she cautiously opened her eyes, the scene presented before her was not the one she had originally fallen asleep to, in fact, it was almost the exact opposite.

"Wh-where am I?" the girl asked herself as she began to prop herself up upon her behind, a portion of her bright red hair messily covering her face, and as she looked around, she concluded that she seemed to be on top of a roof, overlooking an older, rundown city, completely different from where she had come from, the night's shadow concealing the rest of her view.

"This is crazy, am I dreaming?" The girl asked herself as she continued to take in her surroundings, "This isn't the Seeker's base." The Seeker's, a hidden organization located in Japan, the group's objective to eradicate all Defects, beings who have chosen to use their given gifts for evil, the complete opposite of a Guardian. The Seekers being the only known humans, besides the Specials, to have knowledge of both Defects and Guardians, the only humans known to both track down and abolish the Defects. This however, seemed to be to put a slight roadblock in way of her usual purpose.

"Maybe it's the work of a an Illusionist Defect." The girl mused to herself as she pulled down her personal pair of goggles to scan the nearby area; these goggles were a standard of all the Seeker's uniforms and they could be used to pick up the presence of a Defect, as well many other things related to her line of work. As she scanned the area however, she found no trace of a Defect and she felt herself become disheartened at the fact that this was not the work of either her subconscious mind or a Defect, this was in fact, the real deal.

"Well isn't that just great, guess I'm stuck here." The girl sighed, "I hope Mako is having a better time than I am." And at the mention the girl, Mako's name, a light went off within the girl's head, a light reminding her of her acquaintance's missing presence.

"Aw crap, Mako!" The girl abruptly cried out as she frantically glanced around the rooftop, automatically expecting her friend to be there. Suddenly spotting her friend sprawled across the small portion of the rooftop she was currently occupying, she rushed to her side. Mako's eyes were lightly closed, her short, golden blonde hair not giving her as much trouble upon her face compared to the teammate of her's who was now currently kneeling at her side.

"Mako, don't play jokes with me, you get your butt up right now, or I will kill you for real!" The girl, Homura Tsukami, threatened her childhood friend, Makoto Izumi.

"Mako!" Homura Screamed when her friend didn't respond to her threat and continued to lie motionless on the ground in front of her. Then, without warning, Makoto's eyes popped open, a look of befuddlement painted on her face as she took her turn taking in the surroundings. After a few moments, she looked up at Homura and with a voice filled with concern, she asked,

"Homura, how did you get here?"

"How did I get here, how did we both get here?!" Homura snapped back irritably.

"I thought this was my dream." Makoto replied as she began to sit up.

"I'm pretty sure if this was your dream, you wouldn't realize it was a dream." Homura replied as a matter of fact. In reply, Makoto only shrugged.

"Well, I'm just glad you're here, I'm pretty sure I would have gone crazy if I was here all alone." Homura sighed as she began to cringe at the thought of being alone within the unfamiliar city that lie below their rooftop, a faint but sweet melody soon filling its air.

"Really, I'm pretty sure that even without me, you'd still be just as crazy." Makoto smirked causing and tetchy outburst from Homura followed by a sudden, mechanical screech.

"What the heck was that?" Homura anxiously whispered as she ran over to the edge of the roof to have a peek at the arising chaos below them, "Dude, check this out, I think this gang is trying to kidnap a little girl." Homura then called over to Makoto as she slowly reached into the pocket of her grayish purple jumpsuit for the miniature but powerful gun that hid ever present within her uniform. She waited for a moment, her gun held out in front of her as she watched a single policeman make his way up to the incompetent child who didn't seem to know of the danger she could possibly be heading for. She then heard the faint laugh of the girl as a monstrous shadow made its way up from behind the policeman.

"I got you now!" Homura declared as she pulled the trigger, but not before she felt someone grab her from behind and pull her back with them, the abrupt action causing Homura to miss her target as the bullet originally intended for the menacing shadow below them, shot straight into the sky with a bang!

"Wh-what's going on?" Screamed Homura, "let go of me!" she then began to squirm within Makoto's tight grasp as she heard the hushed voice of her friend command of her,

"Be quiet, you don't want them to hear us."

"What?" Homura's voice died down slightly," Did you not hear me before, there is some random gang down trying to kidnap a girl!"

"Yeah, I heard you before, but we have to be careful with what we do here." Makoto began to explain as she loosened her grip on Homura.

"What do you mean?" Homura asked, curious now as she listened to the chorus of screams mixed with ear shattering gunshots.

"Well, this is obviously a different time period, and say if we were to do something to change this time period, it could potentially change ours." Makoto explained.

"You don't even know if this is Japan, Mako!" Homura paused as she tried to listen to the commotion below her, but at that time, it seemed to have vanished, "Great, now you let them get away, congratulations Mako, you are officially a child killer."

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now, why don't you just let it go, it's not like you like children that much anyways." Makoto shrugged.

"Wow, that is so not true, I like some kids." Homura then paused once more, "Anyways, we got to find out who those guys are working for."

"Why?" Makoto asked indifferently.

"Just because, if we have to be stuck in this stupid time period, we might as well do something interesting." Homura replied as she glanced down at the darkened street below her, "ugh, but who's going to know anything about these guys, we probably shouldn't go around town wearing these uniforms, we don't exactly blend in."

"How about that guy, over there." Makoto suggested, her index finger aimed at the silhouette of a man leaning against what looked to be a large piece of machinery.

"What, where did he come from?" Homura asked earning another halfhearted shrug from Makoto.

"Fine, whatever." Homura shrugged, "But we do this my way."

* * *

"Freeze!" Commanded Homura as she and her partner pointed their weapons at the unknown man.

"Whoa, whoa, what's the hold up misses?" The man asked as he held his hands up in surprise, a smile planted on his face as if he thought they were playing a silly prank on him. The man was slightly taller than the two girls; golden blonde hair on the top layered the black portion on the bottom. He was dressed handsomely in a tuxedo, unusual for that time of day, especially for the fact that he was carrying such a heavy piece of machinery with him, what was he planning to do with it? There was another feature that Homura couldn't overlook about him, his eyes were a dazzling green, and besides the sun that started to peek out from the top of the buildings in front of them, they were the brightest things present in that moment.

"Perhaps you could tell us where that carriage was headed to, or is just a coincidence you show up around the time it arrived?" Homura inquired, her eyes staring directly into the man's

"Well, technically." Makoto began to whisper into Homura's ear, "We were here by the time it arrived as well, be we don't know where it's going."

"Shut up, Makoto, I don't need any of your annoying sass right now." Homura hissed into her partner's ear, "Can't you see, I got him right where I want him."

"Well, you see." The man began as he placed his hand behind his head, as if somewhat embarrassed, "I can't really reveal these things to mere humans." The man then laughed awkwardly.

"Excuse me, what do you mean by, "mere humans"" Homura asked offended as she shoved the gun closer to his face, "You think you're better than us, buddy?"

"No, it's not that." The man replied coolly, despite the dangerous weapon pointed particularly close in his direction, "It's just that I'm pretty sure dispatch would kill me for revealing collected information to mortals."

"Dispatch, mortals, what are you?" Homura asked, starting to sound a little anxious.

"The one thing that follows all mortals wherever they go." The man replied ominously as he placed a hand on his machine.

"Death!" Cried Makoto swiftly before Homura even had a chance to breathe.

"I hate your stupid quick wits, Makoto." Homura hissed at her partner, momentarily dropping her weapon, "You didn't even give me time to respond, plus, isn't death supposed to be like, I don't know, less visible?"

"Well, in some lore, death is known to be personified, it's mostly men however who personify such figure." Makoto explained as a matter of fact.

"Wow, so there are no females, that's sexist." Homura grumbled as she dropped her weapon completely.

"That's not true, there are plenty of females, most just don't work out in the field like us men." The man responded with a smile.

"Still Sexist!" Homura screamed into the air, " I bet I could do this little "field job" ten times better than you!"

"Homura." Makoto tried to calm her partner slightly.

"Come on Mako, we are forming a team, and we will show this loser we can do his job just as well as he can!" Homura bragged arrogantly, her left hand forming a confident fist. Homura then heard her partner sigh in defeat before she stating to the man,

"Please don't mind my partner, she's a psycho."

"Traitor!" Cried Homura as she punched her friend in the side, her friend in turn kicking her forcefully in the ankle causing Homura to hiss in pain.

"Now, I hope you wouldn't mind telling us where that carriage is headed?" Makoto asked the man politely as Homura grabbed her ankle in pain, hoping nobody was watching her.

"Well." The man replied, sounding as if he were about to consider answering her, "I don't know much about the place, just that a large some of humans will soon leaving there with the help of our kind, that and the fact that my boss is over there right now."

"Great, there are more of you!" Homura spat angrily as she looked up from her sore ankle.

"Yup." The man answered bluntly, "Now I don't mean to be rude, but if you lovely ladies wouldn't mind, I have a party to attend."

"Party?" Homura and Makoto asked in unison as the man turned to make his leave, his large piece of machinery slung over his shoulder.

"I have so many questions right now." Homura began as the sun made its way back up into the sky, "But first, let's go find that carriage!"

* * *

_While Homura and Makoto were on their little "adventure"….._

**Shizu's P.O.V**

After a dragged out few hours of nothing but complete darkness, Shizu finally felt herself begin to stir, though, upon her awakening, she could immediately tell something was amiss about her situation.

"Ugh, what's going on, where am I?" The girl asked as she tried to adjust her eyes to the lingering darkness in front of her. Her body didn't feel quite right, that much she knew, it felt as if something was binding her to an imaginary wall and every time she tried to move her arm, even the slightest, a sharp pain would shoot through her wrist, almost as if something was stabbing her.

"Crap, looks like I won't be able to move anytime soon." Shizu spat angrily as the faint sound of laughter echoed throughout the darkened space.

"Hello, who's there?" Shizu called out, her eyes anxiously searching for some proof of another human within the space, for the rest of her body had become immobilized by the hoard of invisible bindings that threatened to grab at her if she dared to make a move, and the longer she stayed within the binding's grasp, the more she realized that these bladed threads could be none other then a deadly mass of thorns.

"Listen, if you're not going to come out, then I'm going to break out of these stupid vines and hunt you down, you coward!" Shizu threatened after a few moments of silence.

"Oh, stop acting so tough, you idiot!" A voice that sounded identical to her's shot back angrily.

"Who's acting?" Shizu asked slyly. In response to Shizu's question, a female figure appeared before her, the girl's hair much longer and messier than Shizu's, and her wardrobe consisted mostly of rags, but her voice was identical to the girl bounded to the wall as she looked Shizu straight in the eyes and replied,

"You." Suddenly, the invisible wall she was bounded to became illuminated by a mysterious light source and the deadly wrappings that were assumed to be thorns were then clarified as they were revealed to entrap every inch of Shizu's body in their venomous snares, the only thing excluded from their grip was Shizu's head.

"Oh." Was all Shizu replied with when she glanced over to see that both of her wrists were bleeding heavily.

"But what evidence do you have to tie me to this accusation?" Shizu asked with a slight smirk.

"Oh, it's all in the signs." The girl in front of her replied quite plainly.

"The signs, what are you jabbering on about?" Shizu asked, now becoming irritated by her captor.

"You've become weak, every since our mom abandoned us, and you committed that deadly act." The girl responded with a hiss at the end.

"Deadly act, what are you talking about, as far as I'm concerned I have not committed no such "deadly act."" Shizu confirmed with a scowl.

"Oh, but you did, how do you think you became a reaper?" The girl questioned her curious victim.

"I don't know, I was born into it." Shizu answered with an implied shrug.

"Heh, no, sadly for you, you were not born with such genes, you my reincarnated friend had to do something so horrible, that in normal society, it is greatly looked down upon." The girl informed Shizu.

"It can't be any worse then having to listen to you talk for about another hour." Shizu huffed.

"You, and almost every other reaper, committed suicide." The girl continued, ignoring the fact that Shizu hadn't even asked her as to what she was referring to earlier.

"What, you are crazy!" Shizu suddenly spat out, "I would never commit suicide!"

"Really, well then, if that is true, how did you get that scar on your chest?" The girl asked cleverly.

"I had a severe heart sugary?" Shizu suggested with another implied shrug, the girl in turn gave her an unimpressed glance, finally the girl replied,

"Fine, if you don't believe me, guess I'll just have to show you."

"Show me what?" Shizu asked skeptically as she carefully watched her captor pull out a large, butcher knife from somewhere behind her.

"Whoa, what are you thinking of doing with that, you psycho?" Shizu inquired anxiously as she desperately tried to remove herself from her thorny prison.

"You don't seem to believe me, so I'm only going to show you I was only telling the truth." The girl responded ominously and before Shizu could inhale her second breath, the girl came at her with the knife and jabbed Shizu right where her scar sat comfortably upon her chest. While Shizu waited for the pain to settle within her chest, she watched wide-eyed as the scene in front of her began to disappear, followed by her deadly bindings, leaving her to sit in the darkness all alone for a few minutes before her awakening, but not before a sharp pain resonated throughout her body, causing her to cry out in pain upon her emergence from her all too real nightmare.

* * *

The first thing that was revealed to Shizu upon her awakening, with her head still attached sleepily to her pillow, was the blinding light that shone directly into her eyes as it sat not too far away from her bunk. Shizu then forced herself up off her pillow, her vision slightly blackened, as she turned impulsively to look down at both her wrists and her chest, what she saw next stuffed her throat to the brim with fear. Both wrists, as well as her chest were masked in fresh blood, leading Shizu to assume that she must have clawed at herself in her sleep.

"Well, this isn't good." Shizu commented plainly to herself as she turned behind her to look at her bed sheets, which were also soaked in her blood.

"Crap, what am I going to do?" Shizu then asked herself, "I guess I could go sneak into the medical tent and get some supplies, but then what about my bed sheets?"

"Miss Shizu?" She then heard the all too familiar voice pipe up.

"Crap, and then there's him." Shizu whispered to herself,

"What is it?" Shizu then called down with a bit of a temper in her words.

"Are you okay up there?" William could be heard asking, his voice still monotone.

"Uh, yeah, fine." Shizu bluffed, feeling a bit guilty.

"Would you mind coming down then?" William then asked, his question gripping Shizu in fear as she felt herself freeze before asking,

"W-why, I'm perfectly fine up here."

"Then what was that about needing to get supplies from the medical tent?" William inquired as Shizu could sense that her bluff was slowly being dissected by Will's intellect. She then felt herself sigh in crushing defeat before responding,

"Fine, I'll come down." And with that she made her hesitant climb down the ladder, blood from her wrists staining some of the steps. She then made her way in front of William, who, when he turned to look in her direction, stared at her, wide-eyed, which to her was kind of humorous despite her situation.

"What happened to you?" Will asked baffled, his eyes not moving from Shizu's form.

"Now, I know what you're thinking, but to be quite honest, I've probably suffered much worse than this." Shizu commented with a slight shrug.

"We need to get you to the medical tent immediately." Will responded to her comment with much more urgency than she seemed to have for this particular situation.

"No way, I'm not letting those freaks touch me, you'd probably endanger all their lives if you brought me in there." Shizu protested angrily.

"Miss Shizu." Will urged anxiously, his bright green eyes glaring at her.

"You can "Miss Shizu" me all you want, I still am not going!" Shizu replied with a stomp of her foot to show that she meant what she said and what she said was final. In response to her child-like behavior, William sighed in what she hoped was defeat.

"Would you at least allow me to look at it?" Will asked as Shizu felt herself back away slowly.

"Why can't I just do it on my own?" Shizu questioned as her cheeks began to flush, and in response to her question, Will raised an eyebrow before asking,

"Can I really trust you to take care of this on your own, Miss Shizu?"

"Wow, I see how it is." Shizu replied, acting as if Will's last comment had offended her, but in reality, his mistrust was most likely justified, would she really take care of this on her own or would she just ignore it and let it get even worse? Coming to her own conclusion, Shizu breathed her own sigh of defeat before replying,

"Fine, you can take care of only my wrists, my chest, I'm doing on my own!"

"That is perfectly fine with me." Will agreed stoically, "Now let me just grab some supplies from the medical tent." He then turned to leave the tent, but not before Shizu piped up and stated,

"Oh, and one more thing, you try anything weird with me, I will hurt you."

"I understand, Miss Shizu." Will replied before exiting their tent.

* * *

"Ow, that hurts, be careful with that stuff!" Shizu screamed as her clean, but still quite wounded wrist lay awkwardly upon William's lap as he sat next to the shrieking girl upon his bunk, trying his hardest to cleanse her wounds as she seemed to be trying her hardest to make this whole ordeal difficult for him.

"It would go a lot better if you would cease your movements, Miss Shizu." William informed as he finally began to bandage the wrist.

"Not my fault." Was all Shizu replied childishly replied with as she turned her head away from him. In her opinion, it really wasn't her fault, it was his, looking and acting the way he did, being so uncomfortably close to her, his touch burning hot despite the cool air was slowly starting to build within the walls of their tent. Shizu then couldn't help but wonder if what that girl said from her dream was actually true, had all reapers committed suicide to become who they were today? Just thinking about the fact sickened her.

"There, all done." Will finally declared, breaking Shizu from her daydream as she turned to see that both of her wrists had been properly cleaned and bandaged.

"Um, thanks." Was all Shizu replied with as she tried to block out Will's gaze with her bandaged hands. After a few minutes, Shizu finally announced,

"Um, I'm going to go clean the rest off this crap off, so, can I borrow the rest of those bandages?"

"Of course." Will replied calmly as he handed her the roll of pure white gauze and without another word, Shizu turned to leave the tent.

* * *

She finally made her way out of the changing tent, the only place she could get some real privacy, with her chest tightly banged and her hair neatly brushed out. The only thing that troubled her now, besides the man waiting for her back at her tent, was her torn dress that she held carefully over her body, the only form of pajamas she had.

"Well, that's great, now what am I supposed to wear of pajamas, I ain't sleeping nude." Shizu mumbled angrily to herself as she reentered her tent, a bizarre scene greeted her upon her entrance. What looked to be a duplicate of Will's pajama shirt lay neatly folded upon the bottom bunk, where Shizu and Will were sitting on not too long ago, and the owner of that shirt could be seen standing a couple feet a way from the bed fixture, his eyes focused on Shizu as she walked in.

"Um, hi." Shizu greeted suspiciously, raising an eyebrow to William, "What's with the extra shirt?" she then asked pointing to the shirt in question.

"I noticed your old pajamas were ripped, so I got you a new pair of mine." William replied simply as Shizu felt the heat rise top her cheeks once again, her heart began to pick up its beat as she replied,

"I'm not wearing your shirt!"

"Why not?" Will asked sounding confused.

"B-because it's weird!" Shizu spat.

"Were planning on sleeping without pajamas?" William asked, now raising an eyebrow at her, his gaze now concealed by the glint in his glasses.

"Eww gross, you are sick, of course I'm sleeping with pajamas!" Shizu stated angrily, the beat of her heart sky rocketing, "I'm sleeping with these!"

"Miss Shizu, those clothes are filthy, you'd be better off sleeping in the shirt I gave you." William informed her of the obvious.

"Their aren't even pants to go with it!" Shizu screamed, her face turning a bright red.

"I will provide with pants if you want, I figured the shirt would be enough since you are of a shorter height than I." Will responded, adjusting his glasses earning him a frustrated cry from Shizu.

"Miss Shizu?" William asked calmly, waiting for a rational response from her.

"Fine, I'll wear your dumb shirt, but I won't feel sorry if I get any blood on it!" Shizu snapped as she walked over to obtain her new pajamas.

"That is fine with me." Will replied as Shizu turned to leave for the changing room once more.

She returned once more, the new set of pajamas hanging loosely from her body, and her face still beat red as she walked in to William sitting upon the bottom bunk, a small loaf of bread within his hands, as he seemed to be picking up right where he left off with his book. He must have sensed or heard her walk in, as he turned to look at her.

"Welcome back." William greeted, his green eyes dazzling.

"Hey." Shizu replied, finally feeling the weight of sleep set into her body.

"You feeling alright, Miss Shizu?" William asked sounding generally concerned.

"Yeah, just tired is all." Shizu answered as she began to pull herself up the ladder.

"Actually." William spoke up suddenly.

"What is it this time?" Shizu sighed irritably.

"I think it would be better if you slept down on my bunk." William answered.

"Why?" Shizu asked groggily.

"Just in case of another incident." William replied simply.

"Fine, I'm too tired to argue anyways." Shizu complained as she trudged towards the bottom bunk, Will making his way from her so she could lie down. She noticed how much the sheets smelled exactly like him, a crisp, clean scent mixed with the slight smell of blood.

"My head hurts." Shizu decided to blurt out as she noticed William still next to her.

"It is probably due to the minor blood loss." Will explained as she he took the piece of bread and handed it to her, "Eat this before you go to bed, it should help you feel better."

Shizu took the piece of bread and examined it for a second before asking,

"You got this from the food tent didn't you?" and in response to her question, Will nodded.

"Dude, what if someone caught you, they may have killed you!"

"I don't see why such measures are necessary for a single piece of bread." William answered bluntly.

"These people are dirt poor, I can see some of them killing for a piece of bread." Shizu responded sounding concerned, "By the way, where are you going to sleep?"

"In your bunk." Will responded.

"What, but it's disgusting up there, my sheets are stained with blood!" Shizu cried anxiously.

"That's fine." Will responded as he gently pulled Shizu's blanket over her shoulders before heading up to her original bunk.

"Idiot." Shizu hissed as she began to eat pieces of her bread before heading off to a much more peaceful sleep.


	20. The New Arrivals

***Authors Note: Sorry for the long wait, busy schedule and lack of inspiration kind of kept this from getting finished sooner. Oh well. There's nothing really to say about this chapter, except it is a bit shorter, at least I think **

**Again, sorry if I messed up Joker's accent, I'm not very good when it comes to accents. **

**Thank you all who have been reading, I all try to get the next chapter out sooner, but their are no promises! **

**Have a wonderful week! -^^-**

* * *

Chapter 20: The New Arrivals

She awoke assumingly late the next morning, her eyes remaining closed, as she realized with horrid surprise, she was unable to move her body from the bounded position it seemed to be in. Upon further investigation from where she lie,it seemed to be a human presence binding her to her bed, and though deeming it unlikely to be the person she was afraid it was, she cried out,

"We have two separate beds for a reason you moron!" and with that, she shoved the unknown presence from upon her body to the ground below her, a small, innocent cry of pain following the loud thud.

"Rin!" Shizu screamed secretly relived it wasn't who she originally assumed it was, "What are you doing here?"

"Mr. T. Spears asked me to come in to watch you while he was out with Mr. Dagger and Mr. Michaelis." Rin whined as she remained on the floor of Shizu's room.

"So you thought pinning me to my bed while I slept was the right way to watch me?" Shizu asked skeptically before changing the subject, "Hey, why don't you think Dagger asks us to train with him?"

"I'm not sure." Rin replied, her tone filled with her usual curiosity.

"You think he's scared of us?" Shizu asked, confidence filling her body as she felt a smirk make its way to her lips.

"Why would they be scared of us?" Rin asked, her child-like innocence contrasting with Shizu's haughty confidence, "Also, I'm sorry for pinning you to your bed, I was only trying to wake you up!" Rin then added unsystematically.

"Ugh, it's fine, stop apologizing." Shizu groaned as she sat up in bed, unintentionally revealing her bandaged wrists and chest to Rin.

"Oh no Shizu, what happened to you, are you hurt?" Rin shrieked in a panic as she frantically looked around the room, and for what, Shizu did not know.

"Rin, it's fine, it happened last night and it's been taken care of." Shizu assured calmly, her face a look of ennui.

"Oh really?" Rin looked back at Shizu, her body language seeming to soften, "What did happen?"

"It was nothing, don't worry about it." Shizu dismissed with a slight wave of her hand.

"Oh okay." Rin easily gave in as Shizu began to make her way out of bed.

"Oh wait!" Rin suddenly piped up.

"What?" Shizu sighed slightly angered.

"I have your breakfast." Rin answered presenting Shizu with a small bowl of soup as well as an equally small loaf of bread. Shizu took the bread in eyed it skeptically for a minute before commenting,

"They let you have two servings, maybe these freaks aren't as dirt poor as I thought."

"Actually." Rin responded, her hands held behind her back, her face a blushing mess, as if she were hiding something.

"You didn't steal this, did you?" Shizu inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"No, nothing like that!" Rin squealed embarrassed.

"Then spit it out." Shizu demanded becoming impatient.

"Well, this wasn't my meal, I had already eaten mine, and I was going to get you something, but I totally forgot, I'm so sorry Shizu, don't be mad!" Rin begged, clasping her two palms together as if to convey her act.

"Yeah, that still doesn't explain how you got this second meal." Shizu urged Rin on.

"Well, I was going up to hand them my dishes when I was finished, and I saw Mr. T. Spears, he was getting a bowl of soup poured for himself, and I thought he was going to eat it, but instead he gave it to me along with a piece of bread and told me to give it to you." Rin finally explained.

In response to Rin's explanation, Shizu dropped the spoon Rin had given to her onto her bed sheets, staining them with a miniscule puddle of thick broth.

"What is it Shizu, is something the matter?" Rin questioned anxiously.

"That idiot." Shizu breathed silently to herself.

"What did you say Shizu, are you okay?" Rin pressed, sounding concerned.

"Did he at least take anything for himself?" Shizu replied instead with a question of her own.

"Well, I tried to get him to take back the soup, but before I could reach him, he did that disappearing thing and I couldn't find him again." Rin responded, her tone saddened.

"Well I can' eat this." Shizu bluntly spat before placing her soup on her bed, far from her reach.

"Oh Shizu, there is one more thing Mr. T. Spears wanted me to do!" Rin sat up, sounding somewhat excited, for what reason, Shizu hadn't a clue.

"What?" Shizu asked apathetically.

"He said he wanted me to make sure you ate the soup." Rin admitted, her voice trailing off by the end of the sentence in what Shizu could only guess was more embarrassment.

"Ah yeah, and how do you propose on doing that?" Shizu laughed knowing quite well that anything Rin did wouldn't even make her glance upon the direction of her now assumingly frozen soup.

Then, in response to Shizu's taunt, Rin began to cry.

* * *

"Yay!" Rin could be heard squealing into the cool, afternoon air, her form adjacent to Shizu's, both girls dressed in their circus attire.

"Geez, don't get too full of yourself, I only ate the stupid soup so you would stop crying!" Shizu spat, trying to conceal the fact that she gave into Rin's child-like behavior with her usual irritated rage.

"Yeah, but you still ate it!" Rin pointed out with a small giggle, her large smile causing Shizu to turn away, she didn't want Rin to see that she had caused her face to crack somewhat of a smile itself.

"Did you happen to get a look at that man's eyes as well, Little Red?" Came the unfamiliar voice to Shizu's ears, this voice was defiantly a girl, but it didn't sound like anyone she had been introduced to yet.

"Yeah, I pointed them out to you, idiot, they were red almost weren't they?" Another female voice could be heard asking her partner, "And don't call me Little Red ever again!"

"Why, that's your name, isn't it?" The first girl teased her partner; Shizu could hear their footprints slowly making their way towards them.

"Aw, shut up, Lace!" The second girl spat as the two girls stood in front of them now. The girl who had just spoke wore a short, dark blue dress that hung a few inches above her knee caps, which were concealed by light green stocking-like fixtures. Her feet then dressed in matching dark blue Mary Janes. Her bright red hair, upon further investigation, seemed to be tied back and on her hands were fishnet gloves that, unlike Shizu's, ended at her wrists. Her friend wore a dark green shirt with purple ruffles at the end of her shirt and sleeves. She then wore a matching dark green skirt with black pants and matching black knee-high boots, the skirt also containing purple lace at the end of it. The girl looked a lot like her friend, except she had dirty-blonde hair instead of her friend's red hair.

"Don't call me that either!" The blonde girl hissed at her friend.

"Why?" The red head asked her friend, her face twisted into a devious smirk, " Because it sounds like-"

"Stop it!" The blond girl screamed as her friend burst into laughter, a second later, the blonde girl kicked her friend in the shin, causing her friend to scream in pain.

"Yeah, would you guys mind taking your little love quarrel somewhere else?" Shizu asked once the red headed girl had stopped squealing in pain and had in turn kicked her friend as a form of revenge and this time, it was the blonde girl's turn to the react the pain she had been dealt with. Both girls then turned to look at both Shizu and Rin, their faces sharing the exact same glare of irritation making them look almost like sisters.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know this was any of your business!" The red haired girl finally hissed, her tone daring her opponents to confront her.

"Actually, I could care less about your "business", all I want is some peace and quite for once, and you two screaming at each other isn't really fulfilling my request." Shizu replied unusually cool. Suddenly, an abnormal wave of intuition shot through Shizu's body, forcing her to hold her hand up, fingers spread out, as a single knife stuck itself between her uninjured fingers. Shizu glance then turned to the bladed object in her hair, not even slightly confused as to where it came from as she turned her gaze upon the two women in front of her.

"Really, a knife?" Shizu questioned, her glance focused on the blonde girl as her intuition seemed to be telling her that it was that specific girl who had thrown the knife. In response to Shizu's glare, the girl seemed somewhat anxious, only furthering the conformation of Shizu's intuitive feelings.

"You know." Shizu began, her eyes now fixated on the blonde girl, her voice threatening, "If you really wanted to kill me, you probably should have aimed for my heart, not my shoulder."

"What are you?" The red haired girl asked in what sounded like disgust while her partner continued to stare at Shizu in shock.

"A girl, duh." Shizu joked as she held out her arms to give the girls in front of her a good look at her female anatomy.

"Don't joke with us!" Screamed the red haired girl.

"Whoa, feisty!" Shizu stated as she held out her hands in front of her, trying to act as if she were actually scared of her opponents. Just then, another involuntary feeling surged through Shizu's body, making her raise her hand once more as the blonde girl's fist then made contact with hers.

"What, you want to fight?" Shizu taunted, her face twisting into a sneer.

"Not you!" the red haired girl laughed from next to Shizu as she watched the girl run towards Rin, a small blade in her hand.

"Hey, leave her alone!" Shizu screamed as she tackled Rin to the ground in order to protect her, their bodies hitting the ground with a _thud_.

"Got you now." The red haired girl replied, stealing Shizu's smirk as both her and her blonde partner stood over them.

"Yeah, like I'd let that happen!" Shizu spat as she began to get up, but not before the red haired girl placed the end of a gun to her head, its cold, metal touch imprinting itself to Shizu's forehead.

"No, stop it!" Rin screamed in horror as Shizu just stared at the threat aimed at her head as she continued to hold Rin in her arms.

"Homura, what are you doing?" The blonde girl whispered to her partner.

"Shut up, Mako, I haven't had any action since we got here, plus this girl is giving me trouble." Homura laughed with an unsettling excitement.

"Homura, remember what I said." Mako replied to her partner coolly.

"Shut up!" Homura cried as the sound of a gunshot ran like a herd thundering horses throughout the circus fairgrounds.

* * *

"Homura!" Mako screamed in horror as Homura looked up at the sudden new arrival in front of them, the weapon he held out in front of him seeming to have deflected the bullet specifically aimed for Shizu's forehead, though the girls in front of her may not have known him, Shizu knew exactly who he was.

"Mr. T. Spears!" Rin squealed delightfully from underneath Shizu.

"Mr. T. Spears, eh, how'd you get here so quickly, and what happened to that bullet I had saved for your little friend behind you?" Homura questioned suspiciously as William continued to stand tall without a word to the two girls in front of him.

"Homura, look at his eyes." Shizu could hear Mako whisper to her partner and watched as Homura's own eyes could be seen focusing upon Will's, a large grin spreading across her lips a few second later,

"Oh, I guess that explains everything then, doesn't it?" Homura laughed as if she had some sort of epiphany. What did she know about Will, did she know he was a reaper? That was impossible, how would they?

"What are you talking about, who are you?" Shizu questioned as she released Rin from her protective grasp and began to make her way to her knees.

"Who are we, well, clearly the only normal humans here!" Homura explained as she held her hands out towards the scenery around them.

"Yeah, says the woman who just pulled a gun out of no where." Shizu replied with a chuckle, as Rin and William remained quiet.

"Not out of nowhere, out of Mako's boot, you really think we'd let that clown in there take all our means of defense?" Homura stated, trying to make a point.

Heh, I wouldn't talk so loud." Shizu sneered, as her statement then hinted the sudden arrival of "The Clown"

"Ah, there ye all be, what are ye all doing over here?" Joker's voice could be heard traveling up towards the somewhat suspicious-looking group.

"_What, did you not hear that gunshot, are you deaf?" _Shizu irritably thought to herself as the man stood with them now, his eyes on the back or Homura and Mako's head as they stared, wide eyed, into space, Shizu hoped their horrified gaze meant that they knew they were caught.

"Aw, Pigtails, Princess, Suit, have ye met our new arrivals, Little Red and Lace?" Joker questioned, seeming as if her were trying to lighten the mood a bit.

"Pigtails?" Shizu could hear Homura snicker.

"Shut up, Little Red riding hood!" Shizu retorted angrily and was about to jump Homura when she felt William lightly grab her shoulders in order to hold her back.

"Whoa, Pigtails, calm down, there be no reason to act out so rashly, we all be friends here, right?" Joker intervened, " Are ye okay, what's with the bandages on your body?" Joker then asked, his tone softening.

"That's none of your business!" Shizu screamed back at him, his tone having no effect on her hostile behavior as she struggled against Will's gentle grasp.

"What's the matter Shizu, your boyfriend too strong for you?" Homura taunted with a laugh.

"And get your hands off me!" She then snapped at Will in response to Homura's taunt as he then obediently released his grip on her shoulders.

"Ladies, ladies, please." Joker tried interfering once more, despite the fact that his last attempt failed "Why don't ye all come back with me to the tent so ye can get some more practicing in, been a while hasn't it."

"Whatever, as long as me and little Miss Red can get two separate tents!" Shizu unwillingly gave in as she stormed off in the direction of the largest tent on the fairgrounds, the main show tent. As she was making her way towards the tent, she heard the sound of someone's footsteps stepping in line with hers, and she didn't have to look over to see whom it was, for she already knew.

"Go away." Shizu commanded irritably.

"Did you eat the soup I had miss Kimyo bring to you?" William asked instead, ignoring her previous order.

"Yeah, now will you leave me alone?" Shizu questioned, her already shortened patience fleeting, like the sand in an upside down hourglass.

"Please hear me out on this, Miss Shizu." William began to Shizu's dismay, "I think you should stay back at the tent, I do not believe you are well enough to preform."

In reply, Shizu stopped mid step causing William to follow in pursuit as well as the somewhat large group behind her, then finally turning to look at him, her eyes burning with rage as she responded,

"Stop telling me what to do, it's annoying!"

"Hey, calm down Pigtails, he's only trying to be nice, geez!" Homura replied, sounding quite annoyed as well.

"You too, stop giving me your stupid opinions, I don't care for them at all!" Shizu screamed into the cool, early winter air, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have practicing I really would rather not do!" and with that, Shizu raged off once again, her attitude creating an uncomfortable atmosphere for the group behind her.

* * *

"Has anyone seen my headpiece?" Called the young girl Shizu had been introduced to earlier as the main tightrope walker, Wendy, which was then followed t by a sudden reply from Sebastian who had declared he had located it. The boisterous crowd packed into one, considerably small tent, its felt-like walls contained an array of costumes and accessories for the performers to utilize, as they desired. Due to chaotic atmosphere, Shizu stood in the corner of the tent, her mind on the verge of combustion as she could not stand anymore unnecessary noise. She knew she was being somewhat selfish as she watched Rin and the others do their best to help the main performers, but at that moment, she could not have cared less as she was about ready to tear the whole tent down herself. Finally, to her relief, the tent finally emptied its contents until it contained no one but her, Ciel, Rin, Utsuho, Sebastian, William and the two new arrivals, Shizu in turn, let her body drop to the dusty ground as she gripped her head in screaming pain.

"Man, am I glad that's over." Shizu whispered to herself as she began to breathe heavily. She had no idea what was causing her sudden break down, all she knew was that she had to make her way out of the circus, one way, or another.

* * *

**Homura's P.O.V**

"Well, that's over." Homura humorlessly laughed to her partner.

"Yup." Makoto replied plainly as she glanced over an assortment of costumes hanging from various racks, Homura then wondered if she was looking for a better costume then the one she had received from the clown they referred to as Joker.

"Hey." Homura then brought her voice down to a whisper, trying to receive only her partner's attention.

"What?" Makoto asked, turning her attention to Homura.

"We should try to find some time to investigate this place, see what they are doing with those children they kidnap." Homura urged, "Maybe we should do it now, the place is pretty empty, they should all be preforming right now." A loud sigh of vexation then exited her partner's lungs followed by the voice of the young child they had seen earlier,

"Sebastian, Freckles isn't watching, let's check the tents right now!"

"Looks like they've already jumped to it, maybe next time." Makoto whispered to her partner.

"Crap, but we may never get another chance, we should follow them!" Homura instructed to her partner's dismay as they both watched the group of both man and child leave the tent.

The night air was colder than preferred to Homura, but she tried to focus her attention more toward the boy and was now concluded to be his butler of sorts. Both girls kept their forms out of sight as they hid against the side of the fence, Homura watching in delight as the Joker was now informing the child's butler, Sebastian, of an accident he then needed Sebastian to fill in for.

"Nothing for it, I'm afraid we'll have to find another chance, young master." The butler declared in defeat.

"There's no need." Homura heard herself cry out from the shadows as she watched the child and his butler turn their heads in surprise to look at her, "My partner and I can go with the boy, Black can go preform."

"Wha-who are you?" the child asked, shock present on his face, its form presenting itself in his one good eye.

"That's bit of a difficult answer, but our real names are Homura Tsukami and Makoto Izumi." Homura's hand then could be seen motioning to her partner, who then reluctantly made her way from the concealment of the shadows. Homura eyes then glanced over at the boy who then looked up towards his butler, as if for some answer to the girl's unexpected appearance.

"That is a very generous offer ladies." Sebastian then replied after a moment of silence, his towering form bowing to the both of them," But I'm afraid that there may be some complications to your plan."

"Like what?" Asked Homura with a raised brow.

"Poisonous snakes." The child replied instead, his tone dead serious.

"Poisonous snakes, is that all?" Homura scoffed at their reply as she glanced over towards Makoto before finishing, "Come one Makoto, let's show these men how _us women_ handle our problems."

* * *

"Geez, I can't believe those two scaredy cats were afraid of afraid of a few snakes." Homura laughed triumphantly in the darkened tent lit only by a bright purple light fixture that stood in the middle of the room, both her and her partner sat atop a bed that sat against one of the walls of the tents. The girls had tied all residing snakes within the shelter as if they were nothing but an assortment of colored rope, and they did it in less than ten seconds, "All that training really paid off, right Mako?" Homura asked her partner who stared off into space with a blank expression.

"Hello, you realize I am still present, right?" Called the voice of the lone child as his butler had been called off earlier to preform in the circus.

"Yeah, yeah, calm down." Homura waved her hand dismissively as she watched the child's expression harden.

"We have no time to be fooling around, if we want to get anywhere in this investigation, we have to hurry before the show is over." The boy groaned, "And you both realize you'll have to come back to release these snakes, right?"

"Ugh, really, oh well, guess we can just have a rematch, right Mako?" Homura asked her partner once more, hoping to get a response, but to her dismay, her partner continued to remain quiet, "Ah, you're no fun." Homura sighed.

* * *

"These are certainly bare quarters." The child commented bluntly as he and the two girls made their way into a rather plainly decorated tent, just the unadorned fixings, a bed, a mirror, a small nightstand and a large suitcase the boy could be seen making his way towards.

"Find anything useful?" Homura asked, somewhat curious as she glanced over the young boys shoulders. She had peeked just in time to see that the boy had picked up a rather timey looking photograph decorated in a dull wooden frame. The photograph looked to depict a family photo of sorts, with most of the family members looking as if they were younger versions of the First-Stringers, there was one man however who didn't look quite as familiar, this man was sizeable, with a fair amount of dark grey hair both on his head and his lip, he wore small, circular glasses upon his nose, and from what she could take from this picture, he looked very kind, but she knew that looks weren't everything.

"A photograph of children, are these the first stringers?" She could hear the boy ask through her thoughts.

"That would make sense kid." Homura replied in a whisper as she continued to glance at the photo, as if in some sort of awe, Makoto standing right next to her, so close in fact, she could feel her shoulder connecting to hers.

"Who is this?" The boy then asked, lifting the picture closer to his face as if to get a better look. Homura figured he was studying the older gentleman, because that seemed to be the figure that stumped her as well.

* * *

"Geez, who is this old guy, he seems to be in all of their pictures?" Homura could be heard asking as they stood huddled together in yet another tent, this time, it was obvious that this one belonged to a woman due the stunning pink light that stood in the middle of the room, as well as the quite clear feminine touch to all of the accessories and fixings in the room. Not to mention that, besides the mysterious old man, their stood a smiling young woman with curly black hair within the photograph in question, reminding Homura of one of the first stringers who should have been preforming at that time.

"Here too, it's the same man with her." The small boy could be heard whispering to the photograph in his hands. Just then, Homura could have sworn she heard footsteps and glanced over at the bright pink fabric of the tent of where she assumed was the entrance. Seconds later however, she heard what could defiantly be consider screaming and she dismissed her earlier hearing as just her paranoia as she began to investigate the room further.

"The sign behind them, "workhouse."" Homura then heard the child pipe up slightly louder, "An orphanage?"

"What, are you talking about?" Homura asked in a whisper, but in response got only this,

"So they must all be from the same "Workhouse"."

"Well, I guess that would make sense." Homura Whispered to herself," The First Stringers do seem rather close."

"But where is the workhouse, I need a clearer shot of it?" The boy could be heard once more, as if he were talking to himself and not the girls who also occupied the space.

Just then, the footsteps Homura had heard earlier could be heard once more, but this time, even louder and they sounded as if they were headed right for the tent.

"Ah snap!" Homura whispered to herself.

* * *

Homura clenched her teeth tightly together as both her and Makoto had made their way under the woman's bed, though a little cramped, they had made their way under there just in time. The only problem now was the fact that Makoto elbow kept digging itself into her shoulder, and the only thing Homura could do in response was to keep her teeth held tightly together. She had seen the small boy conceal himself within the small chest the woman had resting in her room, and she hoped he wouldn't be found out so soon.

"Well, this'll do." She could hear the woman respond, and wondered what on earth she could have come in here to do, she was supposed to be preforming was she not?

Finally, the clicks of her heels could be heard making their way from the tent and back to her original performance. Once ready, Homura painfully made her way from underneath the bed with Makoto tagging along, she marveled at the fact that they were both able to fit underneath without revealing any parts of their body, especially due to its circular shape.

"Geez, that was annoying, why did she suddenly have to come in now?" Homura asked irritably.

"Maybe she needed a change of clothes?" Makoto Suggested.

"Heh, yeah but why now?" Homura sighed as she watched the boy's hiding spot open, and to her surprise, it not only revealed the boy, but also the presumed butler.

"Oh hello, where the heck did you come from?" Homura asked, trying to conceal her shock, "Didn't realize there was room for two in there?" She was starting to believe that this "Butler" was not as human as she once thought, he obviously wasn't death, his eyes weren't a piercing green, they were red, which could most likely have meant one thing.

"Good evening ladies." The butler turned to the two girls who stood in awe at his sudden appearance, a large smile appearing on his lips, "My apologies for startling you."

"Yeah." Homura replied, sounding quite skeptical.

"Oi, get off me!" Ciel grumbled as in fact, Sebastian was still present upon his form, she assumed that was what her and Makoto had looked a few seconds earlier under the bed.

* * *

"I see, you think the photographs are important then?" The butler could be heard asking his master as Homura and Makoto continued to look around the room for any other useful information.

"Yes, do you notice anything?" The boy then asked as he could be heard handing the picture to his butler.

"Ah yes, I've seen the imprint from this signet ring recently." The Butler replied as Homura casually made her way back towards the group of males.

"Signet ring, imprints, you can make out details that small?" The boy asked as the girl stood to look, this detail of the butler only confirming her assumption.

"Yes, if memory serves, this matches the seal at the joint of Beast's prosthetic leg."

"The seal, the workhouse, we need to know more about this man." The boy concluded as Homura looked over towards partner, their nods both confirming the same thing.

"It's almost late, let's stop here for today." The Butler responded followed by a distinctive cling of metal, "I must free the snakes before the encore."

However, Homura was not ready to cease her investigation, and she assumed the boy was not either,

"I still have Joker's tent left." The boy replied sternly.

"But my lord…" the butler tried to intervene only to be interrupted by his master, "I should mange if I work through the encore, I'll end it all today."

"We'll go with him." Homura spoke up as the two males turned to look at her, "We are not about to leave this place until we find out what happened to those kids."

* * *

They now stood in what was only assumed to be Joker's tent, the one and only ringleader. While the boy searched frantically within the contents of yet another chest, the girl's searched the rest of the room. Finally, after moments of searching for at least something, Homura found a small piece of letter hidden beneath the pillow that lay at the head of Joker's bed, she proceeded to pick it up while the other two continued their search.

"Tom, the Piper's son, what's this all about?" Homura asked herself, "Hey kid, you might want to get a look at this."

"What is it?" The boy asked, sounding anxious.

"Know a guy name, Tom the Piper's son?" Homura asked.

"Yeah, it's part of a nursery rhyme, why?" The boy questioned.

"It's written on this letter." Homura replied.

"Open it." Ciel commanded.

"Geez kid, keep your pants on!" Homura grumbled as she then began to rip it open, feeling the pressure of the four eyes that now stood behind her.

"Ciel Phantomhive, who's that?" Homura asked aloud as she heard the young boy behind her gasp in what sounded to her to be horror.

"What's the matter, who know this guy?" Homura asked, not bothering to give in to his anxiety.

"I am Ciel Phantomhive." The boy replied through shaky breaths.

"What, then why would these creeps have a whole file on you, are you that special?" Homura asked, starting to get a little anxious herself as she looked over the contents of the letter.

"I don't know!" The boy cried anxiously as she watched Makoto try to comfort him.

"Well, this just got interesting." Homura whispered to herself, a slight smirk making its way to her lips.


	21. Freckles

**Authors Note: Yup, I'm back, I don't think I was gone that long to be quite honest! Anyways, this chapter is a bit longer than the last one. So I would suggest reading this maybe over the weekend, but I suppose if you have time this week, you could read it this week, it's all up to you! **

**Anyways, there's not really much to say, a friend of mine, and she knows who she is if she's reading this, told me she kind of wanted to see one of my OTPs kiss so um...yeah...there is ****that...so you will be seeing that later on in the chapter. **

**Also, I got a new favorite! Yeah! Thank you to those who have been supporting me and my writing, I really appreciate it! -^^-**

**Have a wonderful week, and I'll see about getting the next chapter out soon, though, I'm not really in a rush to be honest so...**

**Bye bye for now!~**

* * *

Chapter 21: Freckles

"Crap, we totally should have ended this little investigation sooner." Homura growled in a hushed voice as all three members of her investigation team tried their upmost hardest to remain hidden behind the single bulky wooden crate that stood nicely against the tent they had recently been occupying for their examination. She watched as the group of main performers made their exit from their performance, and now seemed to be heading towards their own tents. She tried to distract herself from the agitated feeling of Makoto's warm breath that kept making its way up and down the back of her neck, contrasting with the cool night air that also seemed to be trying to bite at her exposed skin, by watching for the girl she only knew by the name of Pigtails.

"I'm feeling puckish." She heard a familiar voice cry out in a whine, the sound of soft footprints in the grass following as she watched the small boy in front of her decide whether or not to make his means of escape.

"Should we go eat?" Asked another familiar voice, still not as familiar as Pigtail's

"Um, guys." Homura suddenly heard Mako speak up, her voice still trapped in a whisper.

"Not now, Mako." Homura dismissed with a wave of her hand. Following her irritated hand motion was the definite _hiss_ of a snake.

"Well, this stinks!" Homura sighed as both her and the boy she now knew to be Ciel Phantomhive turned to face the sudden appearance of the long, slender creature.

"Quick Mako, whoever grabs and ties this snake up first, wins!" Homura declared a little too enthusiastically.

"Are you crazy?" Makoto spat. Before Homura could respond, however, there came a dazzling light from behind them, forcing everyone to turn their gaze to the back, this maneuver soon leading to the revelation of one of the performers as she held a lantern over the startled group. This performer looked to be female and her attire consisted mainly of a bright white, from her floral headpiece down to her skirt, the rest of her outfit concealed by the crate in front of them.

"Oi." She finally spoke up, causing Homura to stare deep into her bright blue eyes, "What are you doing there?"

* * *

"Don't move." The girl then suddenly commanded before leaping over the bulky crate, soon appearing in front of Homura's group.

"Sebas-" Ciel tried to scream, but the girl soon held his mouth shut. Though wanting desperately to fight her despite her gorgeous appearance, Homura stood at attention with Makoto, trying to analyze the girl's next move.  
"Quiet." The girl could then be heard commanding, as she still held tight to the boy's mouth. The disruptive hissing of the snake now replaced by the call of another young boy,

"Oi, Doll!" The girl, in response to her name, made her way from behind the crate and in front of the boy.

"What are you waiting for?" The boy asked, his hair a bright gold with a small hint of black upon his bangs. His face painted to look somewhat like a clown, "Get changed and we'll go eat-"

"This snake was loose." The girl, Doll, informed him, holding said creature up to his face, causing a quite obvious scream of fear to escape his mouth, "We've told him not to let them outside."

"Who lets a bunch of snakes roam free anyways?" Homura whispered to Makoto.

"Maybe instead of a crazy cat lady, this person is a crazy snake lady?" Makoto suggested, and Homura couldn't help but shrug,

"I guess it could also be a man." Homura then pondered.

"Would you two be quiet?" Ciel hissed at the both of them, causing Homura to retort back, still remaining quite silent,

"You shut up, don't tell us what to do brat, I don't care if you're a royal or not!"

"Snake, put it in your tent!" The blonde boy commanded as a man with bright white hair and skin that looked to made of scales made his way towards Doll's group.

"See, it's a man." Homura nodded confidently as she heard Ciel sigh in irritation.

"What's wrong with his skin?" Makoto asked.

"I don't know, maybe it's the cold or something, not enough moisturizer!" Homura sighed. She then turned back to watch the man as he was then given his animal back, its forms making its way upon his shoulders, as he then turned to leave without a word. The golden haired boy then followed in pursuit as he scolded the man for not keeping his animals locked up. Soon waving goodbye to Doll a few seconds later. Doll then returned to her group behind the crate, and grabbing Ciel by the arm, she led them all away from the group of main tents and right back to the new arrival's tents.

"Right, we should be clear now." Doll replied as she scanned the area around her, the sound of Ciel's coughs following her voice.

"Why did you help us?" Ciel then asked after he was finished with his outbursts.

"You still don't get it?" The girl replied, sounding somewhat irritated.

"Get what?" Homura asked as the girl then began to remove her headpiece, revealing the short locks of brown hair that lie upon her real head. The boy next to Homura seemed to jump back when he saw her.

"Who is she?" Homura asked, clearly not amused.

"Freckles?" The boy cried out, pointing a finger in her direction.

"Still doesn't answer my question." Homura stated plainly.

"Hey, that's not a very nice name to call me!" The girl retorted, Homura's question still hanging loosely in the air.

"You're a bloke who wears dresses onstage?" Ciel asked, his outright shock seeming to cause him to step back a few inches from her.

"I believe that's called cross dressing from where I come from." Homura snickered, now becoming quite entertained.

"You're very rude, I'm a maid, I'll have you know." The girl spat back defensively and she watched the girl as she brought her form up towards Ciel, and taking his hand in hers, she brought it to her own chest. Homura tried her hardest to hold back her laughter as the girl then asked creepily,

"Want to check down below while you're at it?"

"No thank you!" The boy replied, clearly mortified.

"So, what were you doing there?" The girl then asked, her tone instantly becoming dead serious, " They must have told you all it was dangerous."

"Well…" Ciel struggled to reply, and Homura lifted an eyebrow, waiting for him to answer, it was her little form of punishment for trying to him for trying to tell them what to do.

"I'm sorry, but I swear I haven't stole anything today!" The boy then cried, holding his hands over his head as if he thought Doll would hit him, "I promise, please don't chase me out!"

"Wait, today?" The girl asked in slight shock.

"The Truth is," The boy began, " I lived in the East End before I became a page, and I got by however I could, I know I shouldn't steal, but I just can't shake old habits, and my last master found out, if the circus turns me out, I'll have to go back to the East End!" The boy was now on his knees, "

"_This boy is pretty good." _Homura mused to herself as she felt a slight smirk make its way to her lips, her form remaining behind Doll as so she wouldn't be able to give anything away.

"What about these here maids?" The girl asked, turning to meet their eyes.

"He's a dear friend of ours." Homura replied, softening her voice to mimic Ciel's performance, "we both met him in the East End, we made our own little group and stole together, no one barely noticing us, when we heard about the Noah's Arc Circus was coming, we figured we could make a new life for ourselves, a life where we would actually be noticed."

"Hmm." The girl seemed to ponder, " You all swear you didn't take anything?" She first turned to Ciel.

"Yes, I swear!" Ciel replied quite hastily.

"How about you two?" The girl then turned to look at them.

"Yes, we swear." Homura replied with a simple nod.

"Well, all right." Doll sighed as she placed a single hand on her head.

"Thank you so much!" Ciel cried happily.

"It's fine, I owe you one anyways." The girl replied in what sounded like defeat, "We've all got our secrets right, what I did to you earlier was wrong, so I'll keep this quiet, now we're even, but no more sneaking about!"

"Right." Ciel replied innocently before questioning, "Say, can I ask you, if you're a first-stringer, why are you sharing my tent?"

"_Oh, is that where her knows her from?"_ Homura asked herself as she waited for the girl to answer as well.

"Well, I don't like staying by myself." The girl stated, I sleep better when someone's with me." The girl paused, "Hey, you'll still room with me even if I'm a first string, won't you?"

"Yes, of course!" The boy replied, sounding unusually happy.

"Oh good." The girl sighed in what sounded like relief, "Then what happened here stays between us."

"Right." The boy agreed, the faint sound of hands clasping together could then be heard.

* * *

"You knew I was still there when you freed the snakes, didn't you, you bastard?" Ciel hissed angrily as he stood in front of both Homura and Makoto, holding the entrance to one of the tents open. Homura, being quite curious, peeked over his shoulder to see that he was screaming at his butler, while Princess and one other woman she did not yet recognize stood watching them in shock. Princess, upon noticing Homura's presence, smiled innocently and waved at her, oddly forgetting the fact that Homura was the one who almost tried to kill her friend.

"Yes." Sebastian could be heard replying bluntly, "You did order me to return before the first-stringers and free them, problem?" He then clarified before placing a hand over his 'heart'

"Sebastian, that wasn't very nice." Princess huffed somewhat angrily as her face could be seen transforming into a small pout.

"_No, but he did kind of deserve it."_ Homura thought to herself as she watched Sebastian's eyes slightly illuminate, _"So you are a demon, aren't you?" _

"What are you glaring for?" Sebastian questioned Ciel, ignoring Princess' question, "Rest assured, my lord, I won't let you die while our contract still holds, but you may encounter some non-fatal suffering if you give the wrong orders, you knew as much." He must have known Homura and Makoto already knew he was a demon, for he was holding nothing back, not even the glow in his eyes, "Every game needs its thrills, you're such an avid player, I assumed you shared my opinion."

" Your game is in sickeningly bad taste, demon!" Ciel shot back confidently, Homura assuming he knew as well.

"You flatter me." Sebastian replied with a smile, "Now I guess you two already know our little secret." Sebastian then turned his attention to the girls who now stood next to his master.

"Yeah, we kind of already guessed you were a demon based on your eye color, I mean, I only know of one other species who share the same eye color as you, and believe me, you are not one of them." Homura explained.

"That's intriguing." Sebastian replied, the smile still remaining on his lips.

"Never mind that." Ciel interrupted the three through a couple of coughs, "Homura found a letter in Joker's tent that mentioned my name, it had my rank, the location of my estate, and even a biographical sketch."

"Yeah, it was pretty creepy." Homura added with an indifferent shrug.

"Ciel, are you feeling okay, you look very red." Rin suddenly spoke up from out of the blue.

"I'm fine." Ciel dismissed the girl.

"But-" Rin was about to disagree when Ciel interrupted,

"It's fine, Rin." He thought for a minute, "Actually, Sebastian, let's talk outside."

"Why, you too good for the inside?" Homura asked as she placed her hands upon her hips.

"No, I'm just feeling a little warm, that's all." Ciel replied coolly as he turned to exit the tent, his butler right behind him.

"So." Homura finally decided to speak up, "You know that kid?" though her question was directed towards Rin; she got another question directed back at her by the unfamiliar woman,

"Excuse me, but who are?"

"Name's Homura Tsukami and this is Makoto Izumi, what about you?" Homura responded, turning her attention on the woman.

"Utsuho Reiuji." The woman replied suspiciously.

"_Hmm, could this woman have been dropped here from our world as well, that name is obviously not British, but neither is the name "Rin", Are they both from our world?" _ Homura asked as she turned her attention back towards Rin, pretending not to be intrigued by the woman's name.

"Well, now that introductions are complete, how about that relationship with the boy?"

"Well, he's my cousin." Rin replied, not seeming at all cautious as to why a stranger was asking her this question. Sebastian's voice could then be heard outside the tent, interrupting their conversation,

"Young Master!" His words filled to the brim with concern.

"Ciel!" Rin could be heard screaming into Homura's ear as she began to get up from her bed. Soon making her leave from the tent.

"M'lady, please wait!" Utsuho cried frantically as she followed her outside.

"Aw crap, what's going on?" Homura asked, slightly panicked.

"Smile, what's wrong, Oi!" The girl known as Doll or Freckle's voice followed in panic, the name Smile was quickly assumed to be Ciel's circus name.

"Homura, should we…? " Makoto was about to ask before Homura held her hand up to stop the question in its tracks.

"Nah, this is none of our business, plus, I really don't feel like it. "

* * *

**Shizu's P.O.V **

_***While Ciel was having his asthma attack**__*****_

* * *

"Geez, what was her deal?" Shizu growled to herself as she lie with her back against her newly appointed bed, her pajamas matching that of William's, who sat at the end of Shizu's bed, quietly reading a book. Her words not seeming to reach his ears as she continued to grumble herself, "Like, who pulls out a gun out of nowhere and decides it would be a great idea to shoot someone." William in turn then raising an eyebrow to her, as if he seemed to think she was acting as a hypocrite.

"Hey, don't you give me that look, I don't even own a gun." Shizu spat back at Will, his attention soon drawn back to his book.

"Well, as long as I won't have to see that Little Red anymore, I think I should be fine." Shizu sighed.

"You do realize that both are now enrolled in the circus, and therefore, there is no guarantee you'll never see that girl again." William replied, turning his dazzling green eyes in her direction, and Shizu could feel her whole body become tense at the thought of seeing the red-headed menace one more time.

"Crap, ugh, can't Joker just kick her out or something?" Shizu asked, the answer to her question seeming quite obvious as she then assumed that was why William did not provide her with an answer.

"Geez." Shizu breathed irritably as her thoughts then began to drift to the hope of Rin's well being. What was she doing at this moment? Was she okay? Did Little Red find her and decide to kill her just to get back at Shizu? All of these thoughts rushing through Shizu's mind quickly caused her a great deal of anxiety and she couldn't help but then sit up. She figured she would have heard a gunshot run through the circus grounds if that was the case, but what if she had decided to do it a little more secretly? What if she snuck into Rin's tent while she was sleeping and slit her throat? Would she be that bent on revenge to do such a thing?

"I have to go check on Rin." Shizu soon spoke up, her tone almost lifeless, as if she were in some sort of trance.

"Miss Shizu?" William questioned as he turned his attention from his book to her once again.

"I'm leaving, and there is nothing you can do to stop me." Shizu replied bluntly as she looked Will dead in the eyes.

"Actually." William dared to challenge her, and placing his book aside, he took his hand and placed it on her shoulder, gently forcing her back upon her pillow.

"What are you doing?" Shizu questioned, her tone suspicious, her body soon falling back on her bed, "You get that hand off me this instant!"

"Please forgive me, Miss Shizu, but I'm afraid its past lights out, you should be in bed." William informed her.

"You can't tell me what to do, I'll fight you!" Shizu challenged angrily, trying desperately not to give into Will's demands. _"Plus, if that's the case, why are the lights still on?" _ Shizu mused to herself.

In response to her threat, she watched carefully was William leaned in closer to her, his face inches from her's.

"What do you want?" Shizu breathed angrily as she tried her hardest to turn away from him. Before she had a chance to stop him, he brushed his soft lips against hers, his hands then gently removing stray pieces of her unbounded hair from her face, his sudden actions soon forcing Shizu's face to turn a burning red as he then pulled away.

"Y…you, I never told you could do that!" Shizu yelled at him, her face a burning mess.

"I understand." He replied, for once, not apologizing, "I do believe it is important that you get some rest however." He then started to remove himself from her bed and make his way over towards the light switch, but not before placing the blanket she was provided with over her shoulders. A moment later, the whole room went dark, and Shizu could barely see her hand in front of her face.

"This time, Miss Shizu, if you need anything, please don't be afraid to ask, I should be here at all times, so there is no need to worry." William then stated as she watched him make his way over to the ladder that led to his half of the bed.

"Y...yeah, whatever, just leave me alone!" Shizu replied, turning over in her bed, trying to ignore the fact that he had just tried to kiss her and in response to that kiss, her heart was beating out of control.

"_This isn't real." _ She assured herself, " _You are not actually in love, you are just being paranoid, snap out of it!"_ She repeated this to herself until her body forced itself to fall asleep.

* * *

**Homura's P.O.V **

_***A while after Ciel's asthma attack.**__** ***_

* * *

"Homura." Came the hushed, but seemingly urgent voice of her partner. Homura, who now lie upon the top bunk of the two beds staring at nothing in particular upon her ceiling, now sat up, slightly surprised at her partner's sudden appearance.

"Yeah, you finish checking up on the kid?" Homura asked, slightly curious.

"Yeah." Makoto replied.

"Geez Mako, what's with you and that kid, you seem pretty attached to him, there something you want to tell me?" Homura asked with a slight chuckle, she loved teasing her partner, watching her usually emotionless face become even slightly agitated, it gave her the strangest of laughs.

"No, why?" Makoto asked, eyeing her partner questionably.

"Well, I think I'm starting to become a bit jealous, you seemed to pay more attention to him than you do me, am I boring you?" Homura asked, playing out her taunt.

"Homura, this is serious." Makoto responded, clearly agitated.

"More important than my feelings?" Homura teased with a large smirk across her lips.

"Yes." Makoto replied, dead serious, forcing Homura to cease her joking and finally ask the long awaited question,

" Fine, what is it?"

"I stopped by one of the first stringer's tents, because I could have sworn I heard people's voices." Makoto began, her story peaking Homura's curiosity.

"Yeah, go on." Homura urged.

"Well, I went in closer to have a listen, and they seemed to know that we found that paper, and that we know what's really happening." Makoto replied in a dead whisper.

"You sure you weren't just being paranoid?" Homura asked skeptically, though it wasn't really like Makoto to be paranoid, usually she knew what she was talking about.

"Yes, I'm sure." Makoto confirmed, " Also, that Joker guy mentioned something about a father."

"Maybe his father?" Homura suggested.

"Homura, they're all adopted remember, that kid said they were all orphans." Makoto reminded her.

"Yeah, but what does he know, he made a contract with a demon?" Homura stated.

"Still, her seems pretty smart, even for his age, I have a hunch that the 'father' Joker was referring to was that unidentifiable man in all pictures we saw." Makoto responded.

"Hmm, you think so?" Homura asked.

"Yes." Makoto clarified.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to see how this whole thing plays out, maybe we'll even get to shut this whole circus down." Homura fantasized.

"Yeah, but for now, let's keep this between us two, okay." Makoto affirmed

"Couldn't agree with you more." Homura replied as she lie back down on her bed, "Though the kid might already have this stuff figured out, like you said, he's pretty sharp for his age, even if he made a contract with a demon."


	22. Reaper Bait

**Yay! Finally, I finished! It's been so long! **

**This chapter is nothing too special, just some more of my William and Shizu shipping, but, this will probably the last of Shizu and William for a little while, but you guys will probably get that by the end of this chapter. This is so sad, I absolutely love this shipping...;^; Have been experimenting a bit with my writing, though, it may not be too obvious.I have been trying to keep in mind that this Anime was set in the early 1800's so now I'm trying to keep my speech as appropriate as possible, though, only really with the Black Butler ****characters , Shizu and the others, well, I have a plan for those dorks! **

**Anyways, thank you all who have been/are reading this, I really appreciate it! Also, any reviews will be appreciated, as well as Follows and Favorites! -^^-**

**I also apologize for any grammar/ spelling errors, tried to edit this the best I could! **

**Since it will probably be a while before the next chapter, I wish you all an amazing week! **

* * *

Chapter 22: Reaper Bait

* * *

Shizu awoke to her world enveloped in a thick darkness, her surroundings barely visible to her eyes, the evening moon's rays barely reaching the walls of her tent despite their thin texture.

"Crap, guess it's not morning yet." Shizu whispered to herself as she waited for her eyes to adjust to her surroundings, _"That's strange, it's oddly quiet in here."_ She then pondered to herself. Her mind racing a thousand miles per hour, forcing her to remain awake for the time being,

"_Is that idiot even in here?"_ She asked herself, and in response to her question, she called out,

"Hey Idiot, you here?"

No answer.

"Aww yeah, I _should be_ here if you are to wake up." Shizu scoffed to herself as she started to remove her body from bed.

"Guess that's what I get for trusting someone I barely know." She stated to whoever happened to be listening, as she then made her way from her tent, not even bothering to change from her pajamas. Her hair remaining unbound and loose a little ways below her shoulders.

* * *

"Return to your tent at once, I can not allow you to act independently." Came a familiar voice, like an acquainted houseguest, to Shizu's ears after what felt like an hour of searching.

"Aw geez looks like the dog snuck out again." Shizu sighed to herself as she began to walk over to the group who then, unbeknownst to her presence, began to do battle.

"Small mistakes can lead to extreme overtime, you see." She heard William's voice call out over the loud metal clang of his death scythe as it tried desperately to reach for Sebastian, whose form couldn't seem to remain still. Soon becoming agitated at the fact that William seemed to be having most of the fun, Shizu decided to take matters into her own hands. The dazzling form of her death scythe soon began to appear within her hands.

"Take this you disgusting flea bag!" Shizu hissed excitedly as she appeared over Sebastian's form, his eyes fixed on the reaper in front of him instead of the one above him as she came down on top him, his senses fixated on her at the very last moment, allowing him to nearly dodge her attack.

"Miss Shizu!" William gasped as Shizu stood upon the shallow crater that should have otherwise been Sebastian's form.

"Don't you "Miss Shizu" me, it was your fault for leaving me in the first place!" Shizu spat at William who stood dumbfounded.

"Miss Shizu, what a surprise!" Sebastian stated, his voice a slight purr. Before Shizu had a chance to retort to what she assumed to be Sebastian's form of a pick up line, she heard the loud clang of metal once more, and the watched almost thunderstruck herself as small drops of blood began to drip from the demon's hand as it clutched the end of Will's death scythe tightly within its grasp.

"I'm sorry, but to get back to our original topic, I have my duties as a butler."

"Let go of that." Shizu hissed quietly to herself as she watched the hostility within the atmosphere build between the two men.

"I can not allow you to disturb my young master's sleep." Sebastian continued a bit more quietly, "And you two don't really want to cause a scene here, do you, though by the looks of it, it looks like little Shizu here already accomplished that." The demon then stated as he began to eye Shizu suspiciously, Shizu in turn, returning his look with a smirk and a glance that practically screamed,

"Come fight me, coward!"

Her look however, not receiving the response it desired as Sebastian then turned his gaze back up towards William once more. He then seemed find it the appropriate time to bargain with the reaper,

"Why don't you and I make a deal, if you give me one hour of freedom, I'll swear never to eat a soul in your territory again, just one hour."

"Lies." Shizu scoffed to herself, figuring William wouldn't fall for such a desperate trick.

"No, thank you, seducing your prey into darkness with sweet words is the demonic cliché." William replied, as Shizu knew he would, releasing his death scythe from Sebastian's grip, and in one swift swing, a splatter of the fiend's blood was then released into the grass beside him, leaving Sebastian with a dripping, crimson red hand. He then began to remove his tainted glove, revealing a set of fingernails painted in, what some people considered, the color, black.

Shizu narrowed her eyes slightly, waiting for the fiend's next move, as she remained sitting upon the ground, her face soon transforming into a look of boredom as Sebastian spoke up once more,

"I was afraid you'd say no."

Then, before Shizu had any means of reacting, she felt a violent tug on the end of her hair, causing a slight agonizing squeal to escape her lips.

"What, are you doing?" Shizu asked angrily as she tried her hardest to break herself from his grip. Before she had even the slightest opportunity to blink, however, her waist was held tightly against Sebastian's form. The look of pure terror was quickly sketched upon William's face as he was forced to watch her squirm helplessly.

"I guess I'll just have to explore other means, then, hm?" Sebastian continued, his voice, though still a slight purr, contained endless amounts of arrogance.

"Let her go this instant, you vermin!" William commanded hastily, "She has nothing to do this!"

"Ah, but that's where you would be wrong, in fact, she is the key to getting exactly what I want." Sebastian laughed as he placed his hand over Shizu's mouth, her only means of calling for help or making a scene for that matter.

"_Don't fall for it you idiot, he's only tricking you to get what he wants, man, he's even more selfish than his young master!" _Shizu screamed to herself, hoping William could hear her inner thoughts.

"_I hope you know he can't hear you, Little Miss Shizu." _Came an unwanted response from Sebastian from inside her mind.

"_Get out of my mind!"_ Shizu commanded to him furiously, as he in turn obeyed for the time being, "_Alright, that's it, I'm done being reaper bait!" _Shizu then concluded as she could tell William was beginning to give in to Sebastian's taunt. She then took one of her free legs and kicked Sebastian as hard as she could between his legs, earning her a sufficient amount of wiggle room within his iron clasped grip and she then took that opportunity to fall through and back upon the cold, grass covered dirt.

"_Don't know why I didn't decide to do that sooner."_ Shizu sighed to herself as she watched William's fearful look soften to that of relief.

"Miss Shizu!" William hushed voice rose slightly against the silent evening, the next sound that came to Shizu's frost bitten ears was that of his footsteps hurrying their ways towards her, though she began to wonder why he decided against just teleporting his way the short distance. Shizu decided to take that moment as an opportunity to glance another peek at her captor, who stood behind her, towering above her temporarily shortened form, his dusty red eyes giving off a slight glow as his lips stretched to a smirk at the sight of her eyes upon him.

"That's a shame, I do apologize however, Little Miss Shizu, for any inconvenience I may have caused you and your little friend." Sebastian replied after a moment of silence, his tone clearly sarcastic despite the humble words he put forth.

"Aw, bite me you demonic pain in my butt!" Shizu retorted angrily as she watched the specks of light dance within his eyes, hungry for the single black pupil that lie center in his eye, as it seem to shrink smaller every so often, only to return to normal size a few seconds later.

By then, William had already made his way towards Shizu, his kneeling form adjacent to her's as he seemed hesitant to try and grab her. After taking an unnecessary few seconds to recollect herself, Shizu began to stand, the bitter morning wind biting at her bare skin as she began to make her leave, leaving the two supernatural beings alone, their eyes following her seemingly delicate form all the way back to her own tent.

* * *

Shizu had envisioned herself fast asleep by the time her head had hit her pillow, though the fear induced excitement that still continued to course within her veins, twisting itself into the pits of her stomach, prevented her from doing such things as she lie there on her side facing the tent's form of a wall. She barely heard William finally make his way back into the tent, most likely due to the fact that he forgot to enter like a normal person. She felt the wait of her bed shift slightly from behind her as she immediately assumed her roommate decided to take his seat in the worst possible place he probably could have imagined, though he seemed to skim over the fact that Shizu had been forcefully man handled by her demonic arch nemesis who chose to disguise himself as every young girl's romantic fantasy, when in fact he was the exact opposite, according to her standards. Therefore, Shizu was anything but ecstatic this man she barely knew decided to place his form anywhere he thought proper, especially if that place was even remotely close to her own form. She desperately wanted to scream at him to go away, but something seemed to prevent her from doing so, therefore she decided to remain silent and act as if she were asleep. The man, however, seemed to pay no particular interest in her despite the fact that he now occupied her space. She would occasionally hear the small flaps of paper as they were gently taken from one side of what Shizu could only assume to have been the book she had seen him reading earlier, and then flipped to the next side.

Shizu began to lose herself in the thought as to why this man still bothered to pay her the least bit of attention, she had given him plenty of signs to justify the fact that she would rather not be troubled by him. She soon became quite puzzled by the fact that he didn't seem to take these distinctive hints, and just kept coming back, he didn't seem at all incompetent, in fact, it was quite the opposite in his case. Her bewilderment quickly turned to fear as she began to realize that she had grown slight feelings for the man, though her ever-growing pride prevented her from admitting this to him, she had noticed, especially in that moment with him so close to her, that her heart began to pick up its speed. She recalled the time she had stuck up for him twice, both of those events being right in the inoperable circus nonetheless.

"Miss Shizu?" William abruptly spoke up, ripping Shizu from her thoughts as she almost felt herself sit straight up in her bed, but soon remembered her little sleeping façade, and therefore remained on her side as she heard herself irritably reply,

"What?"

"After that little incident with the vermin, was there anything you needed me to take a look at?" William responded gently, and Shizu felt herself stiffen as she quickly dismissed his request

"No, you're gross, I'm sleeping."

"I didn't mean it like…" William started, sounding quite mortified despite his monotonous tone.

"No, still sleeping!" Shizu dismissed him quickly, hoping he'd finally take her hint and leave for a change. To her pleasant surprise, she heard William sigh before replying,

"I see, well, if there is any thing that you need, please don't hesitate to wake me."

Then, just as quickly as it appeared, the weight upon her bed suddenly disappeared and the slight creaking sound of the bunk atop her's could then be heard once it had been lifted, letting her know that Will's body had then been transported to the bunk above her. The tent soon returning to its normal silence as Shizu began to feel her eyelids grow heavy; her heart rate gradually began to decrease as her whole body began to sink into her bed.

* * *

It felt like years since Shizu had finally been able to awake without the aid of a grim nightmare. A dazzling light was the first thing to greet her as she gradually forced her eyelids open. Though her eyelids seemed eager enough to awaken, her body however, had a different idea, as she couldn't seem to remove her form from her bed. Giving into her body's desire to remain in bed, Shizu's eyes began to scan the room, her sights soon getting caught on William, who sat at the end of the bed's frame, just a few feet from the ladder he used to climb into his own bed, reading the same book she had seen him reading countless times throughout her stay here. He seemed to feel her glance on him, for as soon as she finally fixated her gaze upon him, he soon met it, his face empty of any emotion as always, the only thing that seemed to show any sort of spark on his face, was his bright polychromatic eyes, who's light even then couldn't shine a speck of emotion to his face.

"Miss Shizu." William acknowledged after a second or two, "You've awakened?" He asked sounding quite surprised.

"Well, I guess you could say that." Shizu replied, still unable to remove herself from her bed.

"Would you like some food?" He then asked. Shizu raised an eyebrow before replying,

"Sure."

"Very well then, I have a bowl of soup for you when you are ready to awaken fully." He responded before returning to his book, leaving Shizu time to ask,

"Wait, have you've been eating anything?"

He glanced up from his book once more, replying simply,

"I do not require food."

"Of course you do, you idiot, you are still half human you know!" Shizu argued angrily.

"I understand this fact, but my statement still stands." William argued, not even bothering to raise his temper as he continued to read.

"Y…you idiot!" Shizu screamed, her anger powering her body, allowing it to sit straight up.

"I see you're up then." William accredited, his gaze remaining upon his book, "Would you like your breakfast now?"

"No, forget about me, you need that soup!" Shizu debated, pointing her index finger in his direction.

"I'm afraid you are mistaken." William stated calmly, "Now please, come claim your meal before it gets too cold."

"No, you're eating that soup if I have to force it down your throat!" Shizu yelled back at him, William in turn, continued on with his book.

"Don't ignore me." She grumbled to herself, her lips in a pout " I haven't lost this argument."

She then began to ponder; she had to conjure up a plan to get William to at least eat something, even if it meant she might have to compromise. After a few unnecessary moments of contemplating, Shizu finally came up with an idea, though not quite fond of it she decided to share it.

"Hey!" She spoke up, removing William's attention from his book and back upon her, "If I eat at least half of this soup, will you be willing to eat the rest?"

"I suppose." William replied, sounding as if he was contemplating this idea as well.

"I _suppose_." Shizu quietly repeated to herself angrily,

"Fine, I'll eat it then!" Shizu announced as she walked over to receive her meal. Once she had the bowl of once boiling hot soup, now most likely close to ice cold, she brought it gradually over to her bed and sat down, setting the bowl upon her lap. Then, taking her spoon, she dipped the end into the thick broth, indifferently scooping up a couple decent sized chunks of both potato and carrot whose forms sat in a small puddle of brownish liquid. She examined the pieces for a second, wondering how the concoction would soon taste within her mouth. Then, with a quick summon of courage, she shoved the whole spoonful inside her mouth. As previously assumed, the soup was defiantly ice cold, as she could feel it inch its way down her throat and into her stomach, its sudden rush causing her to shiver.

"_Man, was that gross!" _Shizu thought to herself as she felt her gaze wander to William, who still seemed to be engrossed in his book.

"_But I'll eat it, if that means I win!" _

Then, opening the valve within her to release every ounce of pride she contained, she began to shovel massive spoonfuls of frigid soup into her mouth, spoonfuls so large, that miniature puddles of broth began to spill form the end of the spoon and back into the bowl. Finally, she deemed the amount of content left in the bowl was sufficient enough to let William have a bite or two.

"Will!" She called out without even bothering to glance back up at him, "It's your turn!"

"Miss Shizu." William sighed, sounding as if he was trying to back out.

"No way, you are not backing down now, now take this bowl and eat it like a man." Shizu commanded irritated at Will's cowardliness to eat.

"If you insist." Will sighed as he came over to sit next to Shizu, keeping an unusually far distance from her, but still close enough to her so he could take the bowl of soup from her as well as the spoon.

"You want to use my spoon, or do you want to get another one?" Shizu asked as she noticed William examining the spoon in his hand.

"Actually, may I have a new one?" William asked, his tone polite. Suddenly, Shizu felt a wave of irritability rush through her like a fast paced current, and she heard herself blurt out,

"Oh sure, you're willing to sleep in my blood-stained sheets, but you won't even share my spoon?" She then watched as William's face flushed, and whether is was from anger or embarrassment, Shizu hadn't a clue at the time. Then, after adjusting his glasses, William replied,

"Well, I thought that maybe you would have wanted a sanitary place to sleep after you had your nightmare."

Once he had been finished explaining this, Shizu felt that rush of irritability she had been feeling earlier turn to pure guilt, its thick form beginning to choke the life out of her as she began to find it hard to breathe.

"I guess I'll…" William began as he started to stand up, apparently taking Shizu's silence as an opportunity to leave.

"No, I'm getting the spoon!" Shizu cried out as her body shot up unto its feet.

"Miss Shizu, are you…?" William began again, only to be interrupted by Shizu once more,

"Yes, I already said I would do it, so I am!" Shizu breathed through the guilt in her lungs. In response, William simply nodded as Shizu began to walk out the tent.

"Wait, Miss Shizu!" William then called out, sounding concerned.

"What?" Shizu shot back, instantly feeling guilty once more for shouting at him.

"You are still in your sleep wear, don't you want to change out of it?" William, who she had just recently noticed had already changed back into his costume, asked, eyeing her bare legs.

"No, I'm fine." Shizu sighed as she made her way out of the tent.

* * *

As Shizu began to make her journey to the dining tent, glaring at anyone who dared to question her with their own gaze, specifically upon her bare legs, she began to get a voice in her head, this voice, sounding more like her consciousness than anything else.

"_Shizu, you sure it's a good idea to feed someone who hasn't eaten for who knows how long?" _The voice seemed to say.

"_Yeah, of course I do, if I don't feed him now, when's he going to eat, huh?" _Shizu shot back.

"_Is this really your call, Shizu, he's his own person, you don't control him." _The voice argued.

"_Shut up, I know what I'm doing!"_ Shizu screamed back at it, the voice following her orders as it began to quiet down.

She was finally at the entrance of what she remembered to be the dining tent when the voice completely quieted down. After a second or so, to make sure the voice was completely gone, she lifted one of the flaps of the tent and walked in, ignoring any stares she was given as she walked up to the front of the tent, where there lie a long table containing large pots of soup, a matching basket of bread, and massive canisters of silver ware, one canister for each type. As she was taking a spoon from its specific canister, she heard a voice yell out,

"Oi, Pigtails, nice legs!" the voice was defiantly male, and as she whipped her head around to look, she notice it was that little runt she recalled by the name of Peter.

"Oi twerp, you want to keep those eyes?" Shizu taunted with a wide smirk, watching Peter's face go from confident to plain angry.

"That's what I thought, kid!" Shizu laughed in response to Peter's irritable silence. Then, with a haughty flip of her hair, Shizu made her way out of the food tent, allowing herself to chuckle once she had exited.

* * *

Shizu realized then and there, that the advice she had given Rin earlier concerning the voices in your head, as they were sometimes correct in their warnings, was advice she should have taken herself as she regretfully listened to William. His body soon forcing him to remove the food Shizu had stubbornly given him outside their tent while Shizu remained on the bed William had sacrificed for her earlier. Though she had been the one who had forced him to eat the poison, Shizu's pride and remorse prevented her from comforting Will who continued to suffer. Once she felt it was safe, she made her out of the tent, and towards William who stood tall and stoic as always, his back turned to her.

"Miss Shizu, I will be heading to the main tent, to do some practicing." William stated after a moment or two of silence, not even bothering to acknowledge her.

"Wait, shouldn't you head to the medical tent, I mean, you basically just threw up your entire stomach!" Shizu screamed in response to William's calm statement.

"No, I am in no need of their services." William responded peacefully in contrast to Shizu's clamorous voice.

"But-" Shizu cut herself off, feeling as though she was exceeding the boundaries that had been plainly set down for her. Instead, she just watched as William made his way towards the main tent, without giving Shizu a second glance. Shizu remained where she was for a few moments, letting the guilt build itself within her. Soon, it was so powerful, its pressure feeling like a firm hand grasping violently at her neck, the pressure soon making its way from her neck to her eyes, as she was soon forced to let it out. She refused, however, it let the guilt out in public, so instead, she rushed for the girl's changing tent. Once within the tent, she sat down upon the single bench within the tent and placing her hands in front of her eyes, began to sob heavily. For a time, the only noise she heard was that of her cries, but then, she saw out of the darkness of her hands, a single ray of light, and then another, and another until she heard a timid voice cry out,

"Shizu, are you in here?"

"Yeah." Shizu called through a slight sniffle.

"Are you okay, why are you in here all alone?" The voice that was soon revealed to be Rin, asked.

"It's nothing, I'm fine!" Shizu spat, "Now what is it?"

"Oh um…" Rin trailed off for a second before continuing in a slight whisper,

"Ciel said, that we were heading back to the manor."


End file.
